Giancarlo Stanton begins running bases as Yankees wait on injured sluggers

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Aug 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, sidelined since April 24 with a pair of right calf strains, ran the bases at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

It was the first time that the designated hitter was spotted doing so since suffering his second strain in June.

“It does feel like he’s getting closer,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ series opener against the Mariners. “He’s stacked a lot of good days here, so when that time comes, obviously, it will be very good to get him back.”

Stanton, plagued by lower-body injuries throughout his Yankees career, ran with relative intensity on Tuesday. He had previously been running in the outfield and on treadmills, in addition to hitting off live pitching and the team’s Trajekt machine.

Boone wasn’t sure what Stanton’s next step will be, but the manager didn’t rule out the possibility of a rehab assignment before the 36-year-old returns. Stanton has skipped rehab assignments in the past, but he is now approaching four months on the shelf.

“We’ll talk about that when we get there,” Boone said. “I think there’s at least a chance of that, yes.”

Stanton, who hit .256 with a .724 OPS and three homers over 24 games before getting hurt, is not the only slugger missing from the Yankees’ lineup right now. Cody Bellinger went on the IL with a left hamstring strain on July 26, and Aaron Judge has been out since May 31 due to a stress fracture in his first right rib.

Judge recently received clearance for light activities, including outdoor running and upper body resistance, but he still hasn’t begun baseball activities. It’s unclear when he will progress to that step.

Bellinger, meanwhile, was doing an assortment of baseball activities before Tuesday’s game, including some defensive work in the outfield. He’s been doing agility work since the day he went on the IL as well.

“He’s running really well,” Boone said. “He’s probably at over 90 percent of his normal top speed and feeling good doing that. I know he still feels a little bit of tightness getting into certain positions, so it’s just getting through that last wave, which, hopefully, he works through this week as the intensity ramps up of doing these things every day. But I don’t think he’s too far off.”

Boone added that it’s “probably” reasonable to expect Bellinger, Stanton and Judge will return in that order. All are expected back this season.

It will be interesting to see how the Yankees shuffle their roster and lineup when those players return. That’s especially true for Stanton, as the right-handed hitter should only DH at this point.

The Yankees already have three hitters who can only DH or play first base in lefty-swingers Ben Rice and Luis García Jr. and the right-handed Paul Goldschmidt.

In the meantime, the Yankees need their lineup to wake up without Bellinger, Stanton and Judge. The Bombers own one of the worst offenses in baseball since Judge last played; they entered Tuesday 26th in runs scored (226), 28th in OPS (.670) and last in wRC+ (87) going back to June 2.

Still, Boone has insisted that the Yankees, buoyed by their rotation lately, can withstand the absences of three MVPs.

“It’s three great players, so of course, you miss those guys and that production,” he said. “It’s hard to replace. But that being said, as I’ve maintained all along, even before we got [Heliot] Ramos and García, who lengthen and change our offense, I feel like we still have, across the board, guys who are capable of being better than they’ve been, and we need to get that out of them and hopefully get those guys cooking.”