Yankees 2025 Report Cards: Giancarlo Stanton

It’s an unfortunate and familiar story. Giancarlo Stanton misses a considerable amount of time with injury during the regular season. The frequency with which this has happened since the Yankees acquired him from the Marlins is distressing not only for the team, but for him. From the beginning of the 2019 season onward, Giancarlo has played in 582 regular season games. The Yankees have played 1,032. His prodigious power has been missing from the lineup almost half the time—albeit never in October—and the repeated injuries have also harmed his counting stats, his likely ticket to entry into Cooperstown.

For the sake of speculating, if Stanton had been on the field 50 percent more as a Yankee (which would mean he’d still missed a chunk of time) and his production stayed level, you could add 74 home runs to his career total of 453. Do you think 528 career home runs, with time still on the clock, would have Big G waltzing into the Hall of Fame instead of racing against Father Time to reach 500? I do.

Anyway, some years when he returns, it takes a while for him to shake the rust off. That was the case in 2025 as well, as Stanton was a bit cold when he made his season debut in June. Then he went on a patented Giancarlo Stanton hot streak for two months. Even with a less torrid end to the season, the back of his baseball card looked rather spiffy for 2025.

Grade: A-

2025 Statistics: 77 G, .273/.350/.594, 24 HR, 66 RBI, 158 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR

2026 Contract Status: Signed through 2027 with a 2028 team option, earning $29 million in 2026 with $10 million paid by the Miami Marlins

When last we saw Stanton in 2024, he was a lynchpin for the Yankees’ playoff run that culminated in a World Series loss to the Dodgers. Seven home runs and 16 RBI in 14 playoff games, made Stanton the team’s unofficial playoff MVP.

It turns out that entire time, the right-handed slugger was dealing with epicondylitis in both his elbows — more commonly known as “tennis elbow”. During the 2024 offseason, Stanton received three rounds of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to expedite the healing process. Nonetheless, he still missed the first couple months of 2025, and he expects he’ll be dealing with the problem for the rest of his career, especially since his swing mechanics are particularly driven by upper-body power.

As mentioned above, Stanton took a while to get his sea legs under him. But once he did, he went on an absolute heater. In 44 combined games in the summer months of July and August, Stanton hit .309/.386/.721. Big G went yard 17 times during that stretch and drove in almost a run per game (43). And that is with him going 0-for-10 in the final four games of August.

Stanton’s high-water mark for the season, statistically at least, came on August 26th in the Bronx against the Nationals. Stanton went deep, drove in five runs, and finished the day with a .313 batting average on the season. The Yankees’ annual summer swoon really sucked. But it likely would have been so much worse if Stanton wasn’t tearing the cover off the ball.

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Stanton couldn’t maintain that pace down the stretch but he was still a formidable offensive weapon for the major leagues’ No. 1 offense. As usual, Stanton’s preternatural bat speed is a large part of the story. Big G paced the majors with an average bat speed of 80.6 mph. In second, Oneil Cruz was almost two full mph behind (78.8). The gap between Stanton and Cruz was the same as that between Cruz and Aaron Judge, whose 77-mph average bat speed was good for 12th in the majors.

The degree to which his fast swing rate (swings of at least 75 mph) outpaced the rest of the major leagues is even more outrageous. Stanton swung the bat that hard 97.3 percent of the time. The gap between him and his closest competitor was roughly the same as second and sixteenth in that particular metric. Big G swings hard. When he hits the ball, it stays hit. Seems simple.

It wasn’t all great news at the dish for Stanton. Swinging and missing has always been part of his game. In 2025, he struck out more than ever before (34.2% K%). Even taking that into account, however, Stanton’ abbreviated regular season was an absolute success. Consider his 158 wRC+. If he had the requisite plate appearances to qualify, he would have rested fifth in the major leagues, two points ahead of former teammate Juan Soto, who’s a heck of an offensive weapon in his own right.

Unfortunately, Stanton’s 2025 ended on a low note. Historically an outstanding playoff performer, Stanton struggled greatly last postseason. He managed a paltry 5-for-26 (.192) with very little power. Two doubles were the only extra base hits on his ledger.

So. What to expect from Stanton in 2026? Probably not a full season, if history is our guide. But from 2021-24, Stanton played at least 100 games each season, highlighted by 139 in 2021. It feels like that might be greedy. But maybe we can split the baby in two, a la King Solomon. Would we settle for 120 games from Stanton at his usual level of production? I personally would sign up for that in a split second.

Back to my earlier mention of Stanton’s pursuit of Cooperstown. His 453 career dingers are good for 40th all-time, with No. 450 arriving September 20th in Baltimore against Tomoyuki Sugano. Can the active home run leader go deep 25 times in 2026? That would leave him with 478, passing luminaries like Stan Musial, Dave Winfield, and Chipper Jones to sit in 31st, within striking distance of 500. I refuse to believe that if he gets to 500 career home runs, one of baseball’s most hallowed round numbers, that the voters would keep him out.

Anyway, there are still months ahead of us before Stanton and the Yankees return to the field. In the meantime, enjoy some Big G highlights.

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