Yankees News: Giancarlo Stanton Booed In Home Debut, Team Claims Former Dodgers Outfielder From Waivers
The New York Yankees have made headlines since the start of the season due to the arrival of Giancarlo Stanton in his first game in pinstripes, as well as their recent injury concerns. New York’s outfield has been plagued by a variety of issues, leading to potential position changes. In particular, Stanton was even rumored to be moving his position along with teammate Aaron Judge to make up for outfield injury issues.
However, it seems a recent acquisition will allow the two players to possibly remain in their normal positions. Meanwhile, Stanton is one of the team’s top offensive threats. While he had a successful Opening Day debut, crushing two home runs during a Yankees’ victory, it was a much different story when he made his home debut.
While Giancarlo Stanton had a great first game for his new team, his first home game was much less successful. According to Sporting News‘ Arthur Weinstein, Stanton was met by boos from the home crowd as he underperformed at Yankee Stadium. Stanton was 0-for-5 in the latest Yankees’ game against Tampa Bay, which still ended up an 11-4 victory in favor of New York. That win came largely as a result of an impressive performance by another of the team’s newer stars, Didi Gregorius, who finished with four hits, two home runs, and a whopping eight RBIs to power the way to a victory.
Didi's Day ? pic.twitter.com/k2kIq6uLeC
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 4, 2018
It was noted in the post-game reports that this 0-for-5 performance was the first-ever in the career of Giancarlo Stanton. The National League MVP and home run leader was also tied for No. 17 in MLB with 163 strikeouts last season. While a hitless performance is not what the fans want to see, there’s a lot of baseballs left to be played this season in which Stanton will make up for that.
In a separate report, the MLB Trade Rumors website indicated that New York claimed outfielder Trayce Thompson from waivers. The team moved their right-handed pitcher Ben Heller to the 60-day disabled list to make room on the roster or Thompson, who was just sent to waivers by the L.A. Dodgers recently. Thompson, the 27-year-old brother of NBA All-Star Klay Thompson, has a career batting average of 0.233 with 19 home runs, 50 RBIs, and 95 hits.
This is Trayce Thompson's first multi-home run game of his career.
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— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 17, 2016
Adding another outfielder is good news for a Yankees team that has been really hit by the injury bug in terms of their outfielders. The team has Aaron Hicks, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clint Frazier, and Billy McKinney all on the disabled list at the moment. At the very least, Thompson will provide them someone to fill the void in the outfield as other players recover.
With the team’s victory against the Rays on Tuesday, the New York Yankees have started their season with a 3-2 record overall and a 1-0 home record. They’ll be back in action on Wednesday afternoon with another home game against Tampa Bay.
