Giancarlo Stanton sends Yankees a message with laser in first rehab start

The New York Yankees entered play on Tuesday leading the Majors in slugging percentage and homers, numbers that will only go up after Aaron Judge added a gargantuan blast against the Kansas City Royals. And yet they've had to do all of that without Judge's partner in crime, Giancarlo Stanton, who's yet to play a game this season as he battles discomfort in both of his elbows.

We have bad news for the rest of baseball. Not only is Stanton feeling healthy enough to embark on a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset that began on Tuesday night, but he apparently didn't need much of any time to shake off the rust. Stanton looked to be in midseason form in his first game action of the year, lacing a two-RBI single that came off the bat at an estimated 111.4 mph.

Those are positively Stantonian numbers; even now, hardly anyone hits the baseball harder, and the prospect of New York adding a healthy Giancarlo to the middle of its lineup looms awfully large in the AL playoff picture right now.

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When could Giancarlo Stanton make his season debut?

Sooner than you might think. Yes, Stanton has missed an awful lot of time, and it sounds like his elbows still aren't 100 percent (and might not be at any point this season). But it's also true that Stanton is a bit of a unique case: Since he's strictly a DH at this stage of his career and doesn't do much of any running even when he puts the ball in play, there are fewer boxes for him to check to be ready for a return to the Majors.

Plus, Stanton has been swinging the bat and seeing live pitching for weeks now. Given all of that, it stands to reason that this could be a relatively short rehab stint; if Stanton is feeling well enough and has his timing down, there's no real reason for the Yankees not to bring him up, even if the priority remains getting him to October healthy. Bringing him back for this weekend's rematch with the Boston Red Sox is probably a bit too aggressive, but don't be surprised to see Stanton back in the lineup in days rather than weeks.

Of course, that just raises another question: How much will he play once he returns?

How might Giancarlo Stanton transform the Yankees lineup?

That might seem a ridiculous question on the surface; of course Stanton will hit in the middle of the order and serve as the everyday DH, especially considering all the damage he was doing the last time Yankees fans saw him on the field. But New York has seen some young hitters blossom in Stanton's absence, and now the lineup math could get a little tricky — rendering the former NL MVP something closer to a platoon bat.

Stanton's success against left-handed pitching would make him a lock to play against southpaws. But Ben Rice, Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham have all proven to be solidly above-average options against right-handed pitching this season, and it would be hard for New York to play all three (in addition to Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt) without someone being left out.

That's not to say that Stanton would never play against righties; Goldschmidt would be the more natural candidate to see less playing time, given his more extreme platoon splits and Rice's ability to slot in at first base. But Aaron Boone will have a bit of a juggling act on his hands once Stanton returns. That's a good problem to have, of course, but one that will be worth monitoring over the summer.