Doctor Hypothesizes How New York Yankees Star Suffered Latest Injury

A doctor has shared their educated opinion on how a New York Yankees star suffered his latest injury.

Sep 12, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (27) hits a single against the Boston Red Sox during the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium. / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

It has become an unfortunate yearly tradition that New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton deals with an injury.

There have been a lot of guesses as to what leads to him not being able to stay healthy for an entire campaign. Some have wondered if he has too much muscle, leading to soft tissue injuries after some wear and tear.

The Yankees have lessened his workload. He hasn’t played the field since the 2023 season, with all 114 appearances last year coming as only a hitter, but that didn’t help keep him healthy since he still missed 58 games.

On top of that, he is now dealing with an ailment that has carried over from the 2024 campaign.

When spring training got underway, manager Aaron Boone revealed Stanton is dealing with pain both elbows, likening it to tennis elbow.

The former MVP added that he has tears in the tendons in both elbows, causing an excruciating amount of pain to deal with.

That has led to him taking some time off and he revealed that he has not swung a bat in over a month. His availability for Opening Day is now up in the air. Predicting when he could be ready to play is virtually impossible since it will come down to his level of pain tolerance.

How did things get to this point for Stanton?

Dr. Timothy Gibson of MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in California believes that his violent swing could be the root cause of the elbow pain.

“If you swing harder than anybody, that means you’re holding on to the bat tighter than everybody,” said the doctor, via Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “If he’s using more of his arms, there’s a lot of stress across his elbows.”

Dr. Gibson has not treated Stanton or seen his medical records, but has treated patients with similar ailments to what has been described.

“That’s his style, though,” Gibson said. “I would not be surprised if you did a biomechanical study and saw the stress of his elbows, it’s more than any other player. Just swinging harder than everyone puts more strain on them than anyone else. That’s just logic.”

He could certainly be onto something with that hypothesis given how much torque Stanton creates with his arms, not using his lower body as much as other players do when they are hitting.

His swing is also the most violent in the sport, averaging 81.3 mph in 2024. The next closest player, O’Neil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was at 78.6 mph.

That 2.7 mph difference between Stanton and Cruz is as large as the gap between Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, who was 12th on the list.

The New York slugger is truly in a category of his own when it comes to swing speed, and the repetitive nature of swinging a bat could certainly cause the painful issue he is dealing with.

Surgery isn’t expected to be needed, but it will be worth keeping an eye on if his swing speed or mechanics change at all.

If he were to miss time, the Yankees don’t have a clear-cut option to replace him in the lineup.

Recommended Articles

feed