Giancarlo Stanton has struggled since getting off to a great start in his Yankees debut, and manager Aaron Boone thinks it has to do with timing.
“Hitting’s hard, man. It’s a struggle when you’re facing elite competition that are trained to make you look bad, are trained to get you. Hitting’s just a really hard thing. And that timing is a lot of it. Sometimes that can be a fine line between just a little bit off, and being in that good rhythm,” Boone said before Tuesday’s game, via ESPN’s Coley Harvey.
Since homering twice and doubling in his first game, Stanton only had four hits and had struck out 21 times entering Tuesday. That led to boos from Yankees fans at home. Stanton did get a hit against the Red Sox on Tuesday, but he continued to strike out.
The big issue to me is that Stanton tried to change the way he hits. He spent the offseason working on hitting to the opposite field to take advantage of the dimensions at Yankee Stadium. It seems foolish that he tinkered with his swing and approach coming off a 59-homer, MVP campaign, and he seems to be paying for it now.