Giancarlo Stanton: It’s way too early for Yankees fans to freak out

Giancarlo Stanton is striking out a ton, but it’s way too early in the season for the New York Yankees and their fans to freak out.

Giancarlo Stanton had another five-strikeout game on Sunday, becoming the first player in the live-ball era to have five strikeouts and no hits in two games in the same season, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Is Stanton’s sluggish start concerning? It certainly is not how New York Yankees fans were envisioning his start to the season. However, we need to remember that this is just the start of the season. We are 10 games into a 162-game schedule.

Yes, Stanton has two five-strikeout games, but he also has two games where he didn’t strike out at all. He’s hitting .167 which is pathetic, but he also has three home runs, seven RBI, and a respectable .429 slugging percentage.

Should we expect more from a man making $25 million this year? Absolutely. Should we be booing the man out of Yankee Stadium? Absolutely not.

Strikeouts are part of Stanton’s package. He has 1,160 strikeouts in 996 career games. He also has 270 career home runs. Things will turn around.

Is Stanton putting too much pressure on himself? Perhaps, but Yankees fans booing him is not going to help him settle down. I know it’s not something we New Yorkers are used to, but be patient. It’s way too early in the season to freak out.

Maybe Giancarlo Stanton needs a day off to clear his mind. Maybe Aaron Boone needs to shake up the batting order (although it’d be tough to find Stanton a better place to hit than in between Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius). Whatever it is that needs to happen, it’s nothing drastic. Stanton’s bat will come around and he will be a force in the middle of the Yankees lineup.

If David Robertson doesn’t give up a grand slam to Justin Smoak, Didi Gregorius is able to slide in under Mychal Givens’s tag on a passed ball in the bottom of the 11th, and Jordan Montgomery is able to give the Yankees length and hold down a 5-0 first inning lead, then New York would be 8-2 right now and Stanton’s struggles would not be the early season headline. Those were three winnable games for the Yankees and the losses were not because of anything Giancarlo Stanton did or didn’t do.

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So relax, take a deep breath, and keep believing. More importantly, keep supporting. Stop booing Giancarlo Stanton and just wait for him to start crushing baseballs into the atmosphere. It won’t be long before he does. Who knows, that big green wall up in Massachusetts isn’t too hard to clear. If nothing else, it could have a few dents in it before Stanton and the Yankees leave town.