Being in shape is critical for optimal performance in sports at any level, whether high school, college, or professional.
Peak condition is a desire and dedication to perform well individually, while also contributing to the success of your team or organization, whether it be a team sport (football, basketball, soccer, baseball) or an individual one (tennis, boxing).
Coming into the season, the media hype was made about New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton reshaping his body to be better equipped for a long grueling MLB 162-game season.
We heard the rumblings, but most fans were waiting to see how it translated to the field.
Stanton has done just that for the Yankees who sit atop the AL East at (30-15) overall with a batting average, OPS (on-base plus slugging), and slug percentage line of .243/.764/.472 respectively.
Those numbers are much better compared to last year, the worst year of the former 2017 NL MVP and five-time All-Star’s career where he had career lows across the board of .191/.275/.420 along with an OPS of .695.
During the offseason, Stanton focused his workouts on being more movement-based to “Be a baseball player again,” Stanton said Monday morning at Steinbrenner Field. “I just needed to be more mobile. A lot of setbacks [last season] kept me not moving the way I’d like to be.”
The Yankees outfielder incorporated a lot of cardio this past offseason more than years past for his 6-foot-6, 245-pound unique frame for a baseball player that seems more built for the NBA.
Stanton has had a slew of lower body injuries due to his style of play and body build throughout his career which led to some mechanical and physical changes he worked on this offseason, something he mutually agreed on with the Yankees’ upper management.
While Stanton may not be the showstopping hitter he once was in his heyday, he’s still an impactful piece to the puzzle of the Yankees’ success as a hitter and savvy veteran for the luminous Bronx team.
He was instrumental in their recent win in the first of two against the Minnesota Twins where they defeated them 5-1 in a game where Stanton hit a home run and an RBI to help propel the Yankees to victory.
Stanton’s nine home runs this season are tied for 15th in the MLB.
Stanton has had quite the career:
- 2017 NL MVP
- 2x Silver Slugger Award (2014, 2017)
- 5x All-Star
- 2x Hank Aaron Award (2014, 2017)
- 2x NL Home Run Leader (2014, 2017)
- NL RBI Leader (2017)
- Wilson Defensive Player of The Year (2017)
- 400+ Career Home Runs
Stanton has done all you can want in a baseball player, but the only thing missing is that elusive World Series title.
I don’t get paid to be a standup guy or say the right things,” he said. “I’m here to produce and help us win a championship. That hasn’t happened and it needs to. The noise back and forth, whatever, it needs to be done. I don’t listen to noise. I understand the facts and that’s what hasn’t happened.”
Stanton hopes to help lead the Yankees to their first World Series title since 2009.
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