Giancarlo Stanton has been absent from the Yankees’ lineup since an early exit due to discomfort in his right calf Friday night. The team hasn’t announced a formal move regarding the slugging designated hitter but is expected to make a call on a potential IL stint one way or another prior to tonight’s game, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post. With outfielder Jasson Dominguez reportedly on his way to join the big league club, it seems likely that Stanton will require at least a brief trip to the injured list.
Stanton, 36, is out to a .256/.302/.442 start with three homers through his first 96 trips to the plate. It’s not his typical level of production, but Stanton’s 30.2% strikeout rate — while still way higher than the 22.2% league average — is down from last year’s 34.2% mark. His batted-ball numbers remain excellent; he’s averaging 94.1 mph off the bat with a strong 44.3% hard-hit rate and a huge 18% barrel rate, per Statcast.
If Stanton heads to the injured list, the Yankees can use the vacant DH spot to get Dominguez some at-bats and perhaps get partial days off for the outfield trio of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham. That quartet can rotate through the three outfield spots and the designated hitter slot.
The Yankees optioned righty Luis Gil over the weekend, so there’s no need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move to get Dominguez up to the majors. However, swapping Dominguez out for Gil would leave the Yankees with 14 position players to 12 pitchers. A second move to subtract a position player from the roster in favor of a pitcher (e.g. placing Stanton on the IL and recalling Gil or another arm from Triple-A) would make sense.
There could be other roster machinations in the works, too. Shortstop Anthony Volpe, who’s spent the first month of the season on the injured list while finishing off rehab from shoulder surgery, is expected to return this week, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. Romero suggests that Volpe will play a couple more games with the Yankees’ Double-A team this week and be activated Wednesday or Thursday.
Volpe, who’ll be 25 tomorrow, struggled through the worst season of his career in 2025. The former top prospect slashed just .212/.272/.391 in 153 games and 596 plate appearances. He connected on 19 home runs and swiped 18 bags, but Volpe saw diminished contact levels within the strike zone and had his worst career performance against fastballs. The dip in production was a mystery for much of the season, but manager Aaron Boone revealed in September that Volpe had a “small” tear of the labrum in his left shoulder and had been battling shoulder pain since May. He underwent surgery to repair the tear in October.
Through his first eight rehab games, Volpe has turned in a .308/.333/.423 batting line. It’s only 23 plate appearances, but it’s an encouraging small-sample stretch for the young shortstop. His return will push the Yankees to make some decisions on the roster.
Jose Caballero has filled in plenty capably at shortstop in Volpe’s absence. He’s batting .271/.314/.417 with three homers and a hefty 11 steals through his first 27 games. Caballero isn’t going anywhere, both due to that production and the fact that he’s controllable through the 2029 season. Volpe could push him to a utility role, but he’s not going to lose his roster spot. Bench infielder Amed Rosario has had a nice start and is hitting both righties and lefties well; he’s safe, too.
The simplest path would be to send Dominguez back to Scranton when Volpe returns. If the Yankees want to give Dominguez a bigger look after he hit .326/.415/.478 with a 12.3% walk rate and just a 15.1% strikeout rate in 106 Triple-A plate appearances, there are alternatives to consider. Paul Goldschmidt was brought back to platoon with Ben Rice at first base but hasn’t hit lefties in a small sample this year. Outfielder Randal Grichuk has had similar struggles. Both players have tallied only 33 plate appearances and have track records of note, however.
If the Yankees don’t want to go with an early boot for either veteran, they could option catcher J.C. Escarra to Triple-A and use Rice and and Austin Wells as their two catchers. Rice hasn’t gotten behind the plate at all this season but caught 229 innings last year and has plenty of minor league experience. It’s always possible that another injury will pop up between now and Volpe’s planned activation window and make the answer more straightforward.
One other infielder to keep in mind is veteran Paul DeJong. He’s currently in Triple-A on a minor league contract but can opt out of his deal at the end of the month. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that DeJong has already informed the Yankees that he’ll be taking the opt-out opportunity if he’s not added to the roster.
DeJong, still only 32 years old, has belted six homers in his first 78 plate appearances with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate in 2026. The longtime Cardinals shortstop is batting .213/.359/.541 with a huge 17.9% walk rate against a manageable 21.8% strikeout rate in that time. Like Volpe, Caballero and Rosario, DeJong is a right-handed hitting infielder. He’s a more capable option at shortstop than Rosario but typically a lighter hitter.
The presence of three other righty-swinging infielders on the roster doesn’t bode well for DeJong’s chances, but it’s possible there’ll be some shuffling to accommodate him. If not, DeJong can take a longstanding track record of strong defense and a hot minor league start to the open market and see if an infield-needy team has a spot for him — or at least a less-crowded path to breaking through than the one he currently faces in the Bronx.
The dip in production was a mystery for much of the season.
Yeah but did you put your hand up on my hip?
I’m looking forward to having Volpe back. He was very unfairly criticized, he was playing with a bad shoulder when he should have had surgery.
I would like to see people here play baseball with a bad shoulder that needs surgery
And the other years?
He has done fine
Asked and answered
Absolutely and the fact that folks think otherwise is baffling.
Mrs Volpe, is that you?
Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson
But like in what role? U sitting cabby? I love what he brings to the team on and off the field. I have no problem deploying volpe VS Lhp for jazz or McMahon, but I don’t like any of our regulars sitting for him VS rhp.
Looking forward to seeing Jasson play every game
They blew it bringing back Trent
Jasson just needs to ignore all the haters.
They didn’t blow it with grish, his defense is far superior, even no longer at peak, and jasson looks like a DH in the outfield unfortunately. I love the bat for jasson, but I love it at DH and emergency OF, like when G played some Of last year.
That is your opinion
No, that’s the opinion of everyone who’s paying attention
Actually, his “dip” in production was not a dip at all, imho. It was a predictable outcome based on his previous two years. It will also be unsurprising to see him repeat it this year.
2023: .283/363/666 / OPS+ 81
2024: .243/.293/.364 / OPS+ 86
2025: .212/.272/.391 / OPS+ 82
To my amateur statistical eye, this seems very consistent. I hope it changes, but he’s below average. Additionally, his defense has declined. He was tabbed early on in his minors career to be best-suited for 2B because of his arm. Goldie saved him from a boatload of errors too.
I heard an assessment of volpe, forget if it was a scout or former player but it sounded so accurate. He’s got an excellent swing and approach for the “elevate and celebrate” swing path, but he’s too small and weak to consistently succeed that way. When he tried to be a slasher, the fact that he doesn’t have the hit tool in his kit for that approach doesn’t help. He’s a tweener and at this point I personally see him as a second division starter, swinging between 2B/SS based on need.
Very accurate description.
Volpe should be moved to 2nd base next season and Lombard becomes SS
I think this is the plan but I don’t agree with it, I prefer to keep jazz as long as the contract is reasonable. Yes I know he’ll be expensive with his numbers and defense, but when the goal is world series champion I’d rather not continue to deplete our razor thin organizational IF depth. I know kilby exists but still.
Yeah, but that injury was there, Clip, so that’s a little skewed. There’s no telling what his season would have been like. Sophmore blues are indeed a thing, a factor of trying to live up to expectations x league adjusting to the hitter, not to mention the pressure of NY.
I’m more optimistic on him, but we’ll see how it goes and we need Cabby in there somewhere daily. Spelling Jazz, Volpe, and Ryan consistently and playing him daily is best.
I like DeJong but he’s redundant with Rosario the preferred option. I’d have been OK carrying either in that role. Also volpe returning makes him even more expendable because he plays ss and hits better VS lhp
Yeah, DeJong was basically Volpe insurance. If anything had gone wrong with Caballero or Rosario while Volpe was rehabbing, DeJong could have stepped in. Now that Volpe is just about back, DeJong can point to a month of respectable AAA production when he puts himself back out there for suitors. The Astros are currently carrying Braden Shewmake (coincidentally, DeJong’s Scranton teammate until last week) and this might be an upgrade. I m sure there are other teams which could use him that I haven’t thought of, too.