Yankees Place Giancarlo Stanton On Injured List
April 28th: The Yanks officially put Stanton on the IL today, with infielder Max Schuemann recalled as the corresponding move. It appears the Yanks will play one more game with 14 position players and 12 pitchers. They plan to recall Elmer Rodríguez to start Wednesday’s game, so it may just be a one-day stint on the roster for Schuemann.
April 27th: The Yankees are placing Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day injured list with a “low-grade” strain of his right calf, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (relayed by Erik Boland of Newsday). They can backdate the placement to April 25.
New York recalled Jasson Domínguez to serve as the designated hitter in tonight’s 4-2 win over the Rangers. They played with 14 position players and only 12 pitchers after optioning struggling starter Luis Gil on Sunday. That means they’ll probably recall a reliever tomorrow as the corresponding move for the Stanton IL placement.
Stanton tweaked his calf on Friday while running the bases. The Yankees gave it a few days before making the IL move. Between that and Boone specifying that it’s of a low-grade variety, it doesn’t seem the club anticipates an extended absence. Stanton will need at least another week before he’s able to return to action.
It’s the first injury of the 2026 season for Stanton. He has required at least one IL trip in every year since 2018 and hasn’t reached 500 plate appearances in a season in five years. The Yankees surely anticipated at least one injury absence from the five-time All-Star.
Stanton is out to a league average start at the plate. He’s hitting .256/.302/.422 with a trio of home runs through 96 plate appearances. The power numbers are down in the early going, but Stanton still ranks at the top of the league in bat speed and exit velocity. Even if repeating last season’s .273/.350/.594 slash would be a tough ask, he should remain an impact power threat when he’s able to take the field.
This should open the DH spot for Domínguez, at least against right-handed pitching. He got the nod tonight against Jack Leiter and went 1-4 in his season debut. The Yankees face two more right-handers, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, to close that three-game series. The switch-hitting Domínguez has been much better from the left side in his career and would be the sensible choice to start those games.
The complicating factor is that the Yankees are expected to welcome Anthony Volpe back from the injured list this week. That’ll push José Caballero to a utility role and someone off the big league bench — presuming they don’t want to stick with a 12-man pitching staff. Ben Rice hasn’t caught all season and is destroying the ball as the primary first baseman. They may not want to mess with that arrangement by optioning J.C. Escarra and making Rice the backup catcher.
They could option Domínguez back to Triple-A, but he’s probably not benefiting much from destroying mediocre minor league pitching. He was squeezed off the season-opening roster simply because the Yankees couldn’t find a path to getting him everyday playing time, which is now open at DH as long as Stanton is on the shelf.
That could instead point to them designating a veteran role player for assignment once Volpe returns. Randal Grichuk broke camp in a short side platoon outfield role and is hitting .194 without a home run over 33 plate appearances. Paul Goldschmidt has had a slow start as well but figures to have a longer leash in his second season in the Bronx on a $4MM contract.
Yankees Notes: Stanton, Volpe, DeJong
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.
Yankees To Promote Jasson Dominguez
The Yankees are calling Jasson Dominguez back up to the big leagues, according to reporter Francys Romero. The move will be made official prior to tomorrow’s game with the Rangers.
Dominguez is already on the 40-man roster, and New York already has an opening on its 26-man roster since Luis Gil was optioned to Triple-A after his start today. Calling up Dominguez in Gil’s place, however, would leave the Bronx Bombers with only 12 pitchers on their active roster, so it seems more likely that another pitcher will be summoned tomorrow as a fresh arm for the bullpen.
To balance out the position-player side, it may be that Dominguez’s return is related to the calf injury that has sidelined Giancarlo Stanton for the last two games. Stanton left Friday’s game due to tightness in his right calf, and given the slugger’s long history of leg injuries, the Yankees could place Stanton on the 10-day injured list in at least a precautionary move.
All 23 of Stanton’s appearances this season have been as a designated hitter, so if Stanton is indeed heading to the IL, the Yankees now have the flexibility to rotate multiple players through the DH spot. Dominguez might well take some of those at-bats himself, or he could play in the outfield while any of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, or Trent Grisham are given a partial rest day.
Dominguez burst into the majors with four homers and a .258/.303/.677 slash line over 33 plate appearances when he debuted near the end of the 2023 season. It seemed like “the Martian” was on his way to living up the hype associated with his status as one of baseball’s top prospects, but he underwent a Tommy John surgery just eight games into his big league tenure. The TJ rehab and an oblique strain limited him to 58 minor league games and 18 MLB games in 2024, and Dominguez then hit .257/.331/.388 with 10 home runs over 429 PA for New York in 2025.
It was a decent but unspectacular first full season for Dominguez, as his offensive numbers translated to a 103 wRC+. He struck out 115 times in his 429 PA, however, and made plenty of hard contact but had trouble consistently keeping the ball in the air. Dominguez’s biggest struggles came on defense, as he had -7 Defensive Runs Saved and -9 Outs Above Average over his 793 innings in left field.
Dominguez has reduced his strikeout rate to 15.2% over 99 Triple-A plate appearances this year, while hitting .306/.404/.471 with three homers for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Still, Dominguez doesn’t have anything left to prove in the minors at this point, as the question is now whether or not he can be a productive big leaguer.
It certainly isn’t too late for Dominguez given that he is still only 23 years old, but the crowded state of the Yankees’ outfield and Stanton’s presence as the regular DH left the Martian without a 26-man roster spot on Opening Day. The fact that New York re-signed Bellinger last winter was another sign that the club still had reservations about giving Dominguez more regular playing time in 2026.
AL East Injury Notes: Stanton, Rodón, Gray, Melton
Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton exited yesterday’s game against the Astros in the sixth inning with right calf tightness. Manager Aaron Boone downplayed the seriousness of this issue, telling Chandler Rome of The Athletic it was “too early” for him to be concerned. “Hopefully we got ahead of anything serious, but we’ll just see where he’s at tomorrow,” said Boone. Stanton is on the bench for today’s game, and no injury list move is pending as of now.
The 36-year-old missed the first half of last season with injuries to both his elbows. Dating back to the 2021 season, he has missed roughly one third of his team’s games, mostly due to lower body injuries. Even so, he remains a crucial part of the lineup. In last year’s half-season, Stanton hit 24 home runs and posted a .321 isolated slugging percentage, his highest mark since coming to New York in 2018. He is not quite at that level so far in 2026, though the team would obviously prefer him healthy and in the lineup. If he eventually misses time this year, that could result in DH at bats for role players like Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario, neither of whom is an inspiring option in a larger role.
A few more injury notes out of the AL East:
- On the pitching side in New York, left-hander Carlos Rodón made his first rehab start yesterday for the Yankees’ High-A affiliate. According to Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru of MLB.com, the club anticipates he’ll need three rehab starts before rejoining the rotation. Assuming he stays on track, that could put him in line to start at the end of the May 8-10 series against the Brewers, or possibly against Baltimore from May 11-13. New York’s rotation has been exceptional to start the year, posting league-best marks in ERA (2.61) and K-BB rate (19.7%). Luis Gil has been the only weak spot, so he’s the likeliest candidate for a demotion when Rodón makes his return.
- Injured Red Sox starter Sonny Gray is traveling with the team and set to throw a bullpen session on Monday, per manager Alex Cora (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). That implies the right-hander, who was placed on the 15-day IL on Monday, will not require a rehab assignment and could return with a minimal absence. That would be welcome news for Boston, as their rotation has struggled to a 4.61 ERA through their first 26 games. Gray isn’t off to a great start himself, but he was a capable mid-rotation arm from 2023-25, so the club is unbothered by the results in a small sample size. His eventual return may spell a demotion for Payton Tolle, who struck out 11 hitters in six innings in his season debut on Thursday.
- Rays outfield prospect Jacob Melton has a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and is out of game action for 4-6 weeks, according to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Melton, who was acquired in a three-team trade in December, currently ranks as the club’s third-best prospect according to MLB.com. He is likely to see time in the Majors this year. The starting outfielders – Chandler Simpson, Jake Fraley, and Cedric Mullins – all have plus range or arm strength, but they are also below-average hitters. Melton’s scouting report mentions room for improvement on his hit tool, though he flashed plus power at Triple-A in 2024-25 and is a solid defender.
Photo courtesy of Maria Lysaker, Imagn Images
Aaron Judge Returns To Right Field
Aaron Judge returns to the outfield as the Yankees begin a pivotal series against the Blue Jays. He’s making his first start in right field since being diagnosed with a flexor strain on July 26. That sent Judge to the injured list for a minimal 10 days. He spent the next month as a full-time designated hitter because the forearm issue made it difficult for him to throw.
The Yankees will ease Judge back to action. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that the two-time MVP will not play defense every day. Boone suggested Judge will divide right field playing time with Giancarlo Stanton. They’ll happily take whatever opportunities they can to keep Stanton out of the outfield. He’s in the DH spot tonight against Kevin Gausman.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. is also playing the series opener. He’s hitting fifth and back at second base. Chisholm departed last night’s win over the Astros with contusions on both knees. He was hobbled during the game but confirmed afterwards that testing ruled out any ligament damage (relayed by Brendan Kuty of The Athletic). He’s back tonight for one of New York’s biggest sets of the year.
The Jays have a three-game cushion in the AL East. The Yankees are half a game up on the Red Sox for second place and the American League’s top Wild Card position. All three teams have very strong odds of making the postseason. They’re all in play for the division, which would likely come with a first-round bye. Toronto, New York and Boston each have a better record than the AL West-leading Astros, so the East winner should secure one of the top two seeds. The Jays are a half-game ahead of the Tigers for the best record in the American League.
Latest On Aaron Judge’s Flexor Strain
Aaron Judge is currently limited to DH-only duties after he was briefly sidelined by a right flexor strain last month. He’s still hitting a solid .229/.426/.429 in 11 games since coming off the injured list, but manager Aaron Boone cast some doubt on his ability to return to full strength this year when it comes to throwing yesterday. As noted by The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, Boone said in both a radio appearance on WFAN and an appearance on Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Yanks podcast that Judge may not be “throwing like normal” again this year.
Notably, Boone did not say that Judge won’t throw again this year. On Talkin’ Yanks, Boone suggested that Judge will probably need “to play with a little bit of a governor” on his throws before adding that he won’t return to the field until he can throw safely. Kirschner adds that Boone went on to suggest that his comments may have been “a little” overstated, while Judge challenged his manager’s framing of the situation by noting that Boone hadn’t seen him throw in two weeks before adding that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll get back to throwing at full strength this year. At the same time, Judge emphasized that he’s going to “be smart about it” in order to ensure he doesn’t aggravate his ailing elbow and miss more time than his initial ten-day stint on the shelf.
Judge’s injury has forced the Yankees into a difficult balancing act. Any day where the reigning AL MVP can’t hit for the Yankees is a crushing blow, so giving him as long as he might need to act as a pure DH and rest his elbow makes plenty of sense. At the same time, Giancarlo Stanton has been incredibly productive (hitting .299/.377/.576) in 44 games since returning from the injured list earlier this year. A laundry list of past injuries and the likelihood that playing the field could cause additional wear and tear on Stanton’s body has essentially made him into a full-time DH of late, and his recent appearances in right field while Judge has been forced into the DH slot have been his first outings on the grass since 2023.
Stanton has not appeared in more than 38 games in the outfield since 2018, suggesting that playing Stanton in the field can’t be viewed as more than a short-term solution. With Stanton hitting well and unlikely to be able to handle regular outfield work for long, the Yankees will be better off the sooner Judge can return to the field—so long as Judge doesn’t cause himself to miss time by doing so. The change has also caused Ben Rice to get more starts behind the plate in order to allow both him and Paul Goldschmidt to stay in the lineup on a regular basis, cutting the playing time of Austin Wells. Of course, Wells has struggled at the plate recently with a .119/.172/.186 slash line since the All-Star break, so he may well have been in line to lose some playing time even before Judge took over at DH.
While the club waits for Judge to be healthy enough to play the field, they’re locked in a tight playoff race. The Blue Jays have opened up a five game lead over New York to take control of the AL East, but the Yankees are just one game ahead of the Red Sox and Mariners among the AL’s Wild Card teams, with Kansas City lurking just 2.5 games back of a playoff spot and Cleveland only three games out. The final few weeks of the season will be crucial as those five clubs vie for their league’s three Wild Card spots, and if the playoff race tightens further that will only give further importance to the Yankees’ decision-making going forward regarding Judge and Stanton.
Yankees Notes: Slater, Stanton, Williams
Acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline, Austin Slater made only two appearances in the pinstripes before he suffered a left hamstring strain. Slater was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 5, and he’ll unfortunately be missing far more than just the 10-day minimum, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner) that Slater will need 4-6 weeks of recovery time.
It’s a tough break for both Slater and the Yankees, as the nine-year veteran was expected to bring some needed right-handed hitting balance to New York’s outfield mix. Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham both hit from the left side and Jasson Dominguez is a switch-hitter, plus Aaron Judge is still limited to DH duty as he fully recovers from a right flexor strain. The idea was that Slater would primarily platoon with Dominguez in left field, but that plan will now have to be put on hold until September.
Even if Slater had been healthy, Giancarlo Stanton was expected to get some outfield time in the wake of Judge’s injury, as the Yankees weren’t going to keep Stanton’s bat out of the lineup entirely. Stanton’s return to the grass has come today, as the slugger is penciled in as the Yankees’ starting right fielder for today’s game with the Astros. With left-hander Framber Valdez on the mound, the Yankees are utilizing most of their right-handed bats in the starting lineup, leaving Dominguez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Austin Wells on the bench.
It marks the first time since September 14, 2023 that Stanton has played a position other than designated hitter. Multiple lower-body injuries limited Stanton’s time in the outfield, and even his move into a seeming full-time DH role came at a physical cost. Stanton didn’t make his 2025 debut until June 16 as he was dealing with torn tendons in both elbows.
With all of this in mind, Stanton is expected to be used only sparingly in the outfield, since the Yankees naturally want to keep him healthy for the stretch drive. Stanton has hit .268/.345/.528 with 10 homers over his 142 plate appearances this season, with a 139 wRC+ that would be his highest since the 2020 campaign.
New York needs all the help it can get as the club tries to get its season back on track. The Yankees are only 19-30 over their last 49 games, dropping from first place in the AL East to just a half-game lead over the surging Guardians for the final AL wild card slot. Relief pitching is one of the chief culprits for the Yankees’ slide, as the team’s bullpen 4.90 ERA since June 13 ranks 26th of the 30 big league teams.
The acquisitions of Camilo Doval, David Bednar, and Jake Bird at the trade deadline was supposed to stop the bleeding on the relief front, yet Bird has already been optioned to Triple-A and Doval and Bednar have each had some shaky moments in their brief stints as Yankees. Devin Williams has also continued to struggle, and he picked up the loss by allowing three runs (two earned) during the 10th inning of yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Astros.
After years as a relief ace with the Brewers, Williams now has a 5.73 ERA over 44 innings with New York. To put it in perspective, Williams allowed only 48 total earned runs in 235 2/3 innings over his six seasons prior to 2025, but he has already been touched for 28 ER in his lone season with the Yankees.
Given these numbers, Kirschner opined that Williams might not even last the season in the Bronx, as the Yankees could opt to just release him in a few weeks once some other relievers (i.e. Fernando Cruz, Ryan Yarbrough) return from the IL. Such a scenario would’ve seemed unthinkable heading into the 2025 season, and many of Williams’ secondary metrics are in line with his career norms. It seemed like he had gotten on track during a dominant stretch from mid-May until the All-Star break, but Williams has a 10.38 ERA over his last 8 2/3 innings, and has allowed at least one earned run in each of his last five outings.
At the very least, it would seem like Williams can’t be trusted for any more high-leverage work. (Even last night, he likely wouldn’t have been used in the 10th inning if other pitchers hadn’t been unavailable.) A more extreme move like a release might hinge on how the rest of the bullpen is performing or if the Yankees feel they have enough depth, but as Kirschner notes, there is already virtually no chance New York would re-sign Williams in free agency this winter. If the team is going to cut ties anyway and Williams may not even be a candidate for a postseason roster at this point, a release in September might not be out of the question.
Yankees Designate Pablo Reyes For Assignment
The Yankees announced that infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes has been designated for assignment. That opens an active roster spot for designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, a move that was reported earlier today. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 39.
Reyes, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the offseason and made the Opening Day roster. He has since served in a reserve role, often as a late-game replacement. He has appeared in 25 games with 34 plate appearances, hitting just .194/.242/.226 in those.
That’s not a great performance but it’s a small sample and it’s tough to maintain quality results with such sporadic action. Him getting the DFA treatment today is more about a fairly crowded Yankee roster. Stanton taking a place in the lineup means that one of Ben Rice or Paul Goldschmidt will be on the bench most days. One of the club’s four outfielders will take up a spot as well. Backup catcher J.C. Escarra will also be on the pine most days.
That left Reyes and fellow infielder Oswald Peraza for the bench spot. Both are out of options and performing poorly at the plate this year but Peraza is several years younger and not too far removed from being a top 100 prospect, so it makes sense to hang onto him in the hopes that there’s still some future value to be extracted there.
Add it all up and it equals Reyes heading into DFA limbo. That can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the club could take up to five days to explore trades. Reyes passed through waivers in September and then settled for a minor league deal in the offseason. He hasn’t done much to raise his stock since then, so it’s possible he clears waivers yet again. If he does so, he’ll have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.
He now has 606 career plate appearances in the majors with a .245/.305/.342 line and 75 wRC+. He’s capable of bouncing all around the diamond, with experience at every position except catcher. That includes five innings of mop-up work on the mound.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
Yankees To Reinstate Giancarlo Stanton
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton will be back in the lineup tonight, reports Andy Martino of SNY. Stanton is on the 60-day injured list, meaning he will need to retake a spot on the 40-man roster to be activated. The Yankees already have a vacancy there, so they will only need to make a corresponding active roster move in order to make this official.
Stanton, 35, will be making his season debut once tonight’s game begins. Way back in February, he reported to camp with soreness in both elbows and he has spent the past few months trying to get healthy. In March, he told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he had torn tendons in both elbows. He landed on the 10-day IL to start the season and the club listed his injury as elbow epicondylitis, more commonly known as “tennis elbow”. He was transferred to the 60-day IL at the start of May.
He has finally been able to ramp up in the past month or so, starting with some work with the high-velocity pitching machine and some live batting practice. He officially began a rehab assignment last week, going 3-11 plus a walk in three Double-A contests.
It seems fair to wonder what sort of production Stanton can provide at this point in his career. Though he has a lengthy track record of crushing the ball with ferocity, he’s now 35 years old and injuries have become more frequent. Though he’s largely been limited to the designated hitter slot, he still hasn’t appeared in 140 games in a season since 2018. He hasn’t hit the 115-game mark since 2021. Over the 2022-2024 seasons, he struck out in 30.5% of his plate appearances while slashing .212/.291/.454 for a 106 wRC+.
He’s now coming off yet another lengthy injury absence and it’s no guarantee that his bat will be an upgrade over what the Yankees have already had in there. Ben Rice has been getting most of the DH time this year and has a .227/.311/.460 line and 117 wRC+ so far this year. Knocking him out of that spot will have domino effects.
Moving Rice to first base isn’t really an option because Paul Goldschmidt is there and is hitting .311/.371/.455 for a 133 wRC+. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic points out that a Rice/Goldschmidt platoon would make on-paper sense but that manager Aaron Boone has ruled out such a tidy arrangement, perhaps not surprising with Goldschmidt a respected veteran making $12.5MM.
The Yanks are open to Rice getting some time behind the plate but Austin Wells is hitting .224/.288/.464 for a 107 wRC+ with solid defensive grades. He has also helped the pitching staff put up good numbers all year along despite the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and others. Even backup catcher J.C. Escarra has a .230/.333/.361 line and 100 wRC+ with good defense to boot.
Stanton does have some outfield work in his past but didn’t play there at all last year. Given his elbow injuries, he’s probably not going to be sent out to the grass. Even if the Yanks were willing to do that, they have been getting strong results from their outfield group of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Jasson Domínguez.
It’s technically a good problem to have but it will be tricky for Boone to get the right balance of finding playing time for everyone so they all can stay crisp while simultaneously trying to optimize the lineup for success on a given day, though the logjam probably won’t last long since injuries are fairly inevitable.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
Yankees Notes: Weaver, Stanton, Rice, Stroman, Volpe
Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided the media (including the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) with injury updates on several players, including closer Luke Weaver. A left hamstring strain sent Weaver to the 15-day injured list earlier this week and reports suggested Weaver would miss between 4-6 weeks, though the Yankees themselves didn’t announce a timeline. While it is still very early in the recovery process, Weaver looks to be showing some progress, as he received a PRP injection in his hamstring and has resumed throwing in each of the last two days.
“[We] like the early stages of where he’s at and how he’s expressing to me how he feels,” Boone said of Weaver’s status. “He’s pretty encouraged and optimistic considering the injury and the timeline with it. So hopefully he does better than that.”
While we won’t know more until (or if) the Yankees release a more concrete timeline for Weaver, it would obviously be great news for New York if the right-hander can return sooner rather than later. Weaver has been excellent basically ever since the Yankees claimed him off waivers from the Mariners late in the 2023 season, and the reliever has become not just a high-leverage arm but a ninth-inning answer in each of the last two years. The Yankees installed Weaver at closer when Clay Holmes ran into some struggles in 2024, and Weaver received more save situations this year in the wake of Devin Williams‘ rough start.
Turning to the lineup, Giancarlo Stanton might finally be closing in on his first on-field action of 2025, as Boone suggested that “a rehab [assignment]’s in play next week.” Stanton has been recovering from torn tendons in both elbows, and since these injuries cost him all of Spring Training, it has been a slow and gradual build as the slugger has gotten back into game shape. His recent work at the Yankees’ spring complex in Tampa has included running drills and multiple live batting-practice sessions.
While Stanton will certainly require multiple rehab games to get him fully ramped up for a return to the majors, the exact length of his rehab stint is to be determined. Since Stanton will be returning to a DH-only role, Boone previously said that Stanton may have something less than a standard rehab assignment, as Stanton will be focusing just on hitting rather than fielding work. If the veteran feels his batting eye and timing are set, it could conceivably be a relatively short time in the minors for Stanton, with his health obviously also a factor.
Stanton is also expected to return to the majors in something less than a full-time capacity as the Yankees’ DH, both in order to ease him back into action and to allow Ben Rice to keep getting some time in the lineup. Rice has cooled off significantly after a scorching start to the season, but he is still hitting .245/.330/.511 with 12 home runs over 209 plate appearances. Most of that playing time has come as a designated hitter, but Rice has also made 10 appearances at first base and four appearances at catcher.
This will remain Rice’s positional usage once Stanton gets back, as SNY’s Andy Martino writes that the Yankees aren’t planning to use Rice as a third baseman. Since Rice recently did some pregame fielding work at the hot corner, some speculation arose that the club might try to include Rice in its third base mix, but Martino poured cold water on that possibility. The left-handed hitting Rice may find himself in something of a platoon with the right-handed hitting Stanton at DH, with Rice also occasionally spelling Paul Goldschmidt at first base and getting the odd game at catcher when Austin Wells or J.C. Escarra need a rest day.
Besides Stanton, Marcus Stroman may also be nearing a rehab assignment, though Boone said any decisions about Stroman’s next steps may wait until after the club sees how he fully recovers from his latest throwing session. Stroman threw around 40 pitches over two innings of a live batting practice on Thursday, and told Boone in the immediate aftermath that his left knee was feeling good.
Inflammation in that left knee has kept Stroman from pitching in a big league game since April 11, though New York hasn’t yet moved Stroman from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. It has been almost a month since Stroman’s throwing progression was shut down after more knee soreness surfaced after another live BP, so it is understandable why the Yankees are continuing to be cautious with the right-hander’s timeline after this most recent batting practice session.
It is also worth noting that Boone said Stroman will be built up as a starting pitcher, which means Stroman will be returning to his preferred role. Early-season injuries elsewhere in New York’s rotation ensured Stroman would indeed be beginning the year as a starter once more, before his own knee issue created another hole in the starting five. Despite the absences of Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Stroman, the Yankees’ starters have remained one of the better rotations in the league, as Will Warren and especially swingman Ryan Yarbrough have been quite capable fill-ins.
Amidst all of these injuries, the Yankees seem to have dodged another bullet yesterday when scans came back negative on Anthony Volpe‘s left elbow. The shortstop was hit in the elbow by a Walker Buehler changeup in the second inning of New York’s 9-6 win over Boston, and Volpe stayed in the game until the top of the fourth. Volpe is day-to-day for now and may be able to avoid an IL stint if the swelling and discomfort lessens in short order.