TORONTO – Just when it looked like Giancarlo Stanton was days away from a return, he has hit another snag.
The veteran DH recently suffered at least a minor setback in his recovery from a calf strain, feeling “a little something in there” while running the bases, Aaron Boone said Saturday.
“I expected him back early in this homestand – that’s in jeopardy now,” Boone said at Rogers Centre.
Stanton “may get some more imaging” to check on his calf, Boone said, and while the 36-year-old has not been shut down from baseball activities, he now seems unlikely to return on this upcoming homestand that begins Tuesday.
Stanton, who last played on April 24, had graduated to running the bases in his buildup, typically the last step before returning.
But while hitting outside a day or two ago and running the bases off of that, he had a flareup.
“I think he just felt a little something in his last one,” Boone said.
The Yankees have made do without Stanton, using mostly Ben Rice or Paul Goldschmidt at DH in his absence with both of them hitting well.
But the injuries have continued to pile up in the meantime, with Trent Grisham joining the IL on Saturday with a hamstring strain that put him on the shelf alongside Stanton, Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Max Fried.