Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorius begin rehab assignments

After spending the last month and a half on the IL Giancarlo Stanton is finally set to return to game action on Monday night. The Yankees slugger will begin a rehab assignment with the Class A-Advanced Tampa Tarpons and if all goes well it looks like he could be back with the big club by the end of the month.

Ever since Stanton landed on the IL with a biceps strain back on April 1st the timetable for his return to the Yankees lineup has been very unclear. There’s still no exact date for his return but now that he’s back playing in games we have a much better idea of when that might be.

In late April the Yankees and manager Aaron Boone announced Stanton’s bicep injury was healed but that he suffered a setback with a left shoulder injury. The specifics surrounding this injury were somewhat vague, but we do know it required him to get a cortisone shot on the 24th.

Stanton recently told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com it’s taken longer to rehab the shoulder after his bicep healed because he needs to get his strength back in his whole arm. The start of a rehab assignment bodes well for him potentially returning before June but we’ll still have to wait and see how his shoulder responds after having at-bats in a real game. Whatever the case may be this is very encouraging news for him and the Yankees.

Didi returns to action as well

In addition to Stanton, Didi Gregorius is also back playing in games after he made his season debut Monday afternoon in an extended spring training game. Didi played five innings at shortstop and cleanly fielded three ground balls but did make one throwing error.

He also had five plate appearances going 2 for 4 with a walk. The plan for Didi on Tuesday is to DH and within the next week or two, he could begin an actual minor league rehab assignment according to Coley Harvey of ESPN.

By mid-June, it’s a real possibility that both Didi and Stanton will be back in the Yankees lineup if all goes well with their rehab assignments. After the return of Aaron Hicks last week this team is getting closer and closer to returning to full strength. Obviously, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino are still out and will likely be the last two key contributors to make their returns but as the Yankees have proven over the past 30 games they can win without them.

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Whether they can make a deep postseason run and win a World Series without them is a question that I hope never gets answered but moving forward this Yankee team is in pretty good shape.

On the pitching side, there’s good news on the injury front as well as James Paxton (left-knee) could rejoin the club on the current road trip. Dellin Betances is also making good progress toward his recovery from a right shoulder impingement and should be back at some point next month.

The Yankees are a dangerous team as they’re currently constructed but in the coming weeks, some serious reinforcements will arrive and they’re only going to get better. That has to be a scary thought for the rest of the American League.

Update: Stanton went 1-3 with a home run to center field in his first game with the Tarpons on Monday.