The New York Yankees will be without one of their top power hitters when the 2025 season begins. Giancarlo Stanton will open the season on the injured list after receiving platelet-rich plasma injections in both elbows, the Yankees announced Saturday. When he reported to spring training, Stanton said he’s had soreness in his elbows since last year, and he hadn’t swung a bat in 3-4 weeks.
“It’s definitely not just soreness,” Stanton said earlier this month (via the New York Post). “It was a manageable thing [last year]. That’s how last year and this year will go. It’s not a, ‘When did it feel good, when did it feel bad?’ There’s always a pain level there. You got to deal with that. It’s just the wisest point to give time right now.”
Stanton has been in New York and away from the Yankees over the last week to tend to a personal matter. He received the injections and has received treatment during his absence from camp. The Yankees say Stanton is expected to rejoin the team in spring training in the coming days.
Stanton missed about a month with a hamstring strain last season and slugged 27 homers in the 114 games he did play. He had an excellent postseason as well, setting a Yankees single-postseason record with seven homers in 14 games. That helped earn him ALCS MVP honors. Stanton said he did that while managing two barking elbows.
The Yankees have plenty of experience playing without Stanton. A variety of injuries, mostly lower body muscle pulls, have limited him to 505 of 870 possible regular-season games since 2019, or 58%. Stanton is a full-time DH at this point. When he misses time, the Yankees rotate players through the DH slot rather than use a new permanent fixture.
With Stanton set to miss the start of the regular season, the extra at-bats figure to go to fourth outfielder Trent Grisham and New York’s hodgepodge of extra infielders (Oswaldo Cabrera, DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza). First baseman Ben Rice, who had a three-homer game last summer, could also be in the mix.
Now 35, Stanton enters 2025 with 429 career home runs, most among active players. He has three more years remaining on his contract, giving him a chance to reach 500 homers. The Yankees owe him $66 million over those three years.
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