Yankees manager Aaron Boone hit on several topics as he spoke to the media ahead of Opening Day in The Bronx against the Miami Marlins...

Giancarlo Stanton's hot start

Everybody knows this isn’t sustainable. But the Yankee slugger starting the season with 10 hits in his first 20 at-bats with two doubles, a home run, and a 270 wRC+ is still something to take notice of, especially as Stanton has represented a key cog in the lineup the past two years when he’s healthy.

“He’s just kinda been on everything,” Boone said of Stanton’s .500 start through his first five games. “Recognizing pitches well. He’s really good at devising a game plan that he wants to use against a particular pitcher and staying disciplined to that.

“But I just feel like he’s been getting himself into a really good position to hit at-bat after at-bat. Really, since his first day of being in a game during spring training. I felt like the consistency of at-bats have been there.”

The production has been there for Stanton ever since he returned to the lineup last season after dealing with elbow issues, as he hit 24 home runs with 66 RBI and posted a 158 wRC+ over 77 games last season.

The skipper said a lot of that comes with the off-the-field work of a true professional.

“I have so much respect for him,” Boone said. “He’s just such a stud in our room. I just have a lot of respect for the person and the way he goes about things. The thing he’s been through that get him to different places.

“You go back to the end of ‘24 and the playoff run… and then really last year, he mighta been as good as ever when he came back from June on, he was just such a massive presence in the middle of our order.”

Boone added that despite Stanton getting on in age, he turned 36 last November, “he’s still so good and in a lot of ways better.” What’s behind the slugger staying good?

“He’s very cerebral and very analytical about how he goes about processing and doing things and preparing,” the skipper added. “And I think he’s got really great at the preparation game. For him personally, what does he need to mentally, physically to be ready to go up and produce in a game.

“And he is just so mentally tough and disciplined to what he has to do you really sense that and feel that being around him the last several years.”

Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole updates

Rodon, who suffered a setback with a hamstring issue as he rehabs from offseason elbow surgery, said he hopes to throw off the mound again on Saturday, per SNY’s MLB Insider Chelsea Janes.

The lefty would be doing so less than a week after feeling that hamstring discomfort, and he added that if that session of around 50 pitches goes well, he might be headed for a rehab assignment soon after.

Boone said that it wasn’t really much of a setback for Rodon, but it all depends on how he responds to the throwing session.

“It is just a matter of when he can run and cover and field his position and things like that,” the manager said about the next steps. “He’s able to keep his arm going through this, so [the hamstring issue] is minor enough that that’s the case, so it’s a good thing.”

Popular in the Community