Giancarlo Stanton shut everybody up with one swing of the bat in Yankees spring debut

Giancarlo Stanton was the butt of many jokes when word came out last winter that he had somehow developed tennis elbow in both of his elbows and the condition worsened while he was resting during the offseason. Even for those who sympathized with his plight, it was cause for concern given the injury-plagued nature of his New York Yankees tenure.

But Stanton has always been a good Yankee. He shows up in big moments. He says the right things. He knows what the mission is. Last season, despite the elbow issues, he came back to put up a 158 wRC+, a mark he last reached in his 2017 NL MVP-winning campaign. That turn-back-the-clock moment made us think the sore elbows were behind him.

Things can never be so easy. The tendonitis is still there, and when it flares up, he can't open a bottle or even a bag of chips. That revelation brought the trolls out. Fans started recirculating the old commercial with him and Ronald Torreyes, where the muscular Stanton struggled to open a jar of pickles before the diminutive infielder came to the rescue.

Some weren't as good-natured and predicted that this was the end for the 36-year-old. But now with him making his spring training debut, Stanton had other ideas.

Giancarlo Stanton's Yankees spring training featured a monster exit velocity

If there's one thing Big G is known for, it's hitting rockets. Take a look at the hardest hit balls in MLB history (StatCast era), and you'll find the leaderboard littered with Stanton's name.

With his elbows giving way, it was a fair question as to whether or not he could still leverage his definitive skill to provide value. It only took Stanton two at-bats to deliver an emphatic yes.

The slugger ripped a single in his second at-bat against Team Panama that registered a whopping 114.3 miles per hour off the bat.

With that, anyone who doubted whether he still had it was quickly reminded of what he can do. Stanton might not be the superstar he was in his prime, but he can still smoke balls like few can.

Expecting him to put up a full MVP-level season at this point is foolish, but so too is writing him off. Stanton will be productive in spurts, and there will be moments that take your breath away.

At the same time, the Yankees will need to handle him with care. He's not going to play 159 games as he did in 2017. The total will be nowhere close to that. But if the Yankees can keep him healthy for the big moments, you should never bet against him coming through. In the meantime, he's still got that power that made him a star, and he can break it out just enough to be a productive player in 2026.