Aaron Boone dismisses idea that Giancarlo Stanton's batting stance has changed
Has Giancarlo Stanton altered his batting stance? Think again, says Aaron Boone. The Yankees' manager told the New York Daily News on Tuesday night that the Yankees' behemoth slugger hasn't made any tweaks to his uncommonly closed stance in the last week, even though the YES Network broadcast displayed a split screen image of Stanton's stance that suggested otherwise on Monday. One of the photos showed Stanton in the batter's box against the Mets at Citi Field on June 10. The latter was of Stanton from Monday night when the Yankees faced the Nationals, and that image seemingly revealed a slight alteration in Stanton's stance -- his feet looked closer together and his bat wasn't resting near his shoulder.
Nice work by @JackCurryYES -- While Stanton claims otherwise 🤔 pic.twitter.com/igHCeKMTh2
— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzNYDN) June 19, 2018
“Yeah, I saw that. I think sometimes different camera angles, different points of time can make it seem a little different than maybe it is,” Boone told the Daily News. “I don’t think there is much difference at all, if any. Especially because Giancarlo, I think, actually measures himself off up there every time...
“I know for Giancarlo the storyline is always going to be around his stance. I think his stance is fairly irrelevant. It’s about him getting up there and getting comfortable. The reality is when he switched to that closed off [stance] he had as good a run we’ve seen in a long, long time. For me, it’s about him getting on time in that hitting position consistently.” Whether or not Stanton has made a few changes, whatever he's doing at the plate is working right now. In the Yankees' 4-2 win over the Nationals on Monday night, Stanton went 4-for-5 with two RBI, and in Tuesday's 7-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in the Bronx, he went 1-for-4 with a home run -- his 17th of the season. Boone isn't the only one claiming that Stanton hasn't made adjustments. Stanton has also insisted that he's not doing anything different at the plate. “I’ve been seeing the ball better, regardless of results,’’ Stanton recently told the New York Post. “It’s good to have games like this where it’s put together out on the field... No, I didn’t make adjustments." It was a exactly a year ago Tuesday, June 19, 2017, when Stanton elected to change his stance from squared to closed. Since then, Stanton has hit .267 with 59 home runs and 127 RBI in 162 games. If you want to connect with Tom Hanslin, email him at thanslin@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @tomhanslin.