Explaining Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton’s amazing reincarnation

NEW YORK — Nobody saw this coming from Giancarlo Stanton.

Nobody.

The Yankees were hoping for more of the spectacular power show that Stanton seems to showcase every October, last year’s helping them finally get through an ALCS and back into the World Series.

Stanton’s been way better than that since his season finally began in June after 70 more missed games for tennis elbow in both arms.

The Yankees figured they knew what Stanton would provide this season if got on one of his hot streaks: Home runs.

There figured to be a lot of swing and miss in there, too, because there always is.

They knew he’d be running like he’s jogging at full speed to first base or around the bases, station to station, of course.

And everyone assumed that 100% of Stanton’s at-bats would come either as the Yankees’ designated hitter or pinch-hitting because his days as an outfielder seemingly passed like a SS Stanton ship in the night in September 2023 when he last played the field.

Shame on everyone for doubting the ability, courage and determination of a generational slugger who still is on the road to Cooperstown despite missing 45% of the Yankees’ games since 2018 with injuries.

His greatest sustained surge as a Yankee, a month of raking for average and power, soared to another level of amazement Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. He went 4-for-5 with a 447-foot homer, a double to left-center and a two-run single off the base of the right-field wall in a 9-1 mashing of the Twins.

This big night left Stanton hitting .353 with 11 homers and 27 RBI over his last 26 games.

The total for Wednesday’s game between the Yankees and the Twins is set at 8.5 runs on DraftKings. Our comprehensive DraftKings Sportsbook review will show you how to sign up and use their app.

Those are Aaron Judge-esque numbers.

For the season, Stanton is batting .300 with 12 homers and 34 RBI in 42 games.

That’s no typo.

Yes, Stanton is a .300 hitter after finishing his last three injury-riddled seasons at .211 in 110 games in 2022, .191 in 101 games in 2023 and .233 in 114 games last year.

How is this happening?

“It’s just the quality of the at-bat,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s controlling the strike zone, I feel like as good as I’ve seen him. He’s obviously going up there with a good plan. When he’s getting the pitch he’s looking for, he’s doing damage with it. But I think it starts with just really controlling the strike zone.”

It’s more than that.

“My timing’s there,” Stanton said.

He’s also been getting the ball in the air a lot after hitting a lot of groundballs in his first week back. When he does that, a lot of his barreled-up balls soar out of the ballpark or off the outfield wall because his exit velocity, once again, is among the best in the game.

In Tuesday’s win, Stanton had exit velos of 114.7 mph on his double, 113.9 mph on his homer and 110.8 mph on the single off the wall. His night also included a lineout to left that was 90.8 mph off the bat and an infield single.

“He’s so good at going up and looking for a pitch, and when he squares it up and gets that thing and you just see him on time, he just hits them different than everyone,” Boone said. “He really does. It’s fun. I definitely like when Big G obliterates one.”

So does Aaron Judge, who also homered in the blowout win.

“This guy’s been one of the best in the game for quite a long time,” Judge said.

Stanton’s 441 career homers verify that. His latest passed Jason Giambi for 44th all-time. One more and he’ll tie Dave Kingman for 43rd place.

“This is a guy that loves to play the game and he loves to win,” Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon said after a seven-inning, one-run, one-hit start. “You saw it last postseason when he hit some really big homers in big at-bats. We all know the caliber of player he is, and he’s showing it.”

This run really has been enjoyable for Stanton, even though he’s still playing in pain.

“It’s refreshing after missing so much time,” he said. “You contribute zero when you miss time, obviously, so anything I can do when I’m back is certainly nice.”

Stanton doesn’t like to talk about what he’s still dealing with in his elbows because he thinks that’s making excuses. But if you press him like NJ Advance Media did in a recent one-on-one, he might again admit that his elbows are in the same condition that they were last season when the pain often was excruciating.

Making all of this even more impressive, Stanton has played some right field in each of the Yankees’ last four games, three of them starts, because it’s the only way he can be in the lineup with Judge limited to DH duties while he continues rehabbing a right elbow injury that had him on the IL for 10 days.

Stanton is enjoying himself out there. There’s not a lot of ground to cover playing right at Yankee Stadium, so he’s handled all of the routine flyballs with ease. And also plays a little game within the game after his warm-up tosses when he hunts down a fan in a first-row outfield seat with a glove and tries to make a perfect throw to give them a souvenir.

“I try to not make them move it,” Stanton said.

Stanton will be moving back to DH soon.

Tuesday was Judge’s seventh game back, but he’s getting close to flipping positions with Stanton. He might be back in right field on the upcoming two-city road trip that begins with a weekend series in St. Louis and ends two in Tampa next week.

“It’s progressing,” Judge said. “It’s all on what the trainers say. Hopefully, we can get back out there soon. I told Big G, ‘Don’t get comfortable in right field!’”

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.