TAMPA — Almost two weeks into camp, the Yankees have about a week and a half left of spring training.
Giancarlo Stanton plans to use every last bit of the condensed spring training to get his swing where he wants it to be, and Saturday let him know he’s on the right track.
The Yankees slugger crushed his second home run of Grapefruit League play, taking a 96 mph fastball from Blue Jays left-hander Ryan Borucki and depositing it onto the scoreboard in left-center field.
“Staying on heaters, on time for 95-plus is always good at this time [of the spring],” Stanton said after the Yankees’ 10-9 loss at Steinbrenner Field.
Spring training stats often don’t have any bearing on a player’s start to the regular season, but through four games, Stanton is 5-for-8 with two walks and two strikeouts. He said he arrived at the delayed camp with a head start, having put in close to the same amount of work on his own as he would have if spring training had started as scheduled.
“I like getting at-bats on the backfields, too,” said Stanton, who played right field on Saturday. “As long as I can get my timing and balance, I’m good — or prepared for the season, which it’ll take all the way up to the fifth [of April] or whatever. But I’ll use that time wisely.”
The Yankees’ other starting corner outfielder on Saturday, left fielder Joey Gallo, also drilled a three-run home run off a 96 mph fastball from right-hander Nate Pearson.
“He’s getting on top of heaters right now, which is good,” Stanton said of Gallo, who went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Stanton is coming off his best season as a Yankee, in which he stayed mostly healthy to bat .273 with 35 home runs and a 136 OPS-plus in 139 games. He finished strong over the final two months of the season, which coincided with playing the outfield again and the Yankees adding a pair of lefties, Gallo and Anthony Rizzo, to their right-handed heavy lineup.
The Yankees hope to see more of the same from Stanton this season as part of an improved offense overall after they often struggled to produce last year.
“Very dynamic [lineup],” Stanton said. “Getting some lefty bats in there at the half last year and continued now is definitely what we needed.”