Yankees place Giancarlo Stanton on IL with hamstring issue

Giancarlo Stanton was injured in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and he’s been placed on the IL.

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton left the game with a left hamstring issue. Sunday morning, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and others, Stanton was placed on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain. Thairo Estrada has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

After two straight seasons where he played in more than 155 games in 2017 and 2018, Stanton was limited to just 18 games in 2019 due to bicep and knee issues. The delayed start to this season helped him get fully healthy, and he seemed to be back in form thus far (.293/.453/.585 slash-line, three home runs over 54 plate appearances).

Stanton’s injury woes in New York continue

On Sunday morning Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Stanton hadn’t had an MRI yet, but the team feels like he’ll miss at least a week.

In an effort to keep him fresh, Stanton had been used solely as a DH through 14 games this season. But even “fresh” legs can be injured while running the bases, and it’s impossible to protect Stanton from every possible scenario where he could get hurt.

Boone hinted at a committee approach at DH while Stanton is out, which should naturally include Aaron Judge to help him stay fresher. Mike Ford replaced Stanton on Saturday, and he’s in Sunday’s starting lineup against Tampa Bay batting sixth as the DH.

Any absence of a key player takes on more weight for every team in this 60-game season. But the Yankees did just fine offensively without Stanton for most of last year, and they’ll have to adapt to his absence again now.