Giancarlo Stanton Can’t Open a Bag of Chips, But He Still Rakes

The start of the new season for New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton has shown that the former MVP can still swing the bat with the best of them at age 36, even though he can’t…open a bag of chips?!?!

A spring training story around Stanton drew attention after he revealed that the severe tennis elbow in both of his arms was affecting even routine tasks, like opening a bag of chips.

Stanton consistently has one of the fastest swings in the league, which greatly contributes to his success at the plate and the unreal exit velocities that he produces, and many believed that could be in jeopardy.

While the questions about how reliable a bat he would be rightfully started to pile in over the last couple weeks of spring, Stanton quickly shut them down with a fantastic start to 2026.

Sustaining some success at the plate, combined with consistent availability, could lead to a big year and a big step towards the illustrious 500-homer club.

Today, I am going to examine some of Stanton’s early positives along with the importance of his bat in the Yankees’ lineup, as well as his personal quest for a major career milestone.

Stats updated prior to games on April 13.

Stanton’s Early Season Success

While some other Yankee bats are slumping to start the year, Stanton has been one of the team’s best hitters.

Usually known for his power, Stanton currently leads the team in hits with 15, while only one has left the yard, showing the veteran can still hit for an average at times.

Through his first 13 games, Stanton is the second-best hitter on the team in most categories, like batting average (.300), OBP (.364), slugging percentage (.400), and OPS (.764), all behind young slugger Ben Rice.

Yes, as the season progresses, the numbers will start to average out, but Stanton’s powerful swings and ability to hit the ball hard to all fields are precisely the positive signs that many Yankee fans are seeking amidst the offense’s struggles.

Stanton has quieted concerns about his swing in the early going, as he still ranks second in average bat speed (78.9 mph) and leads the league with a 94.1% fast swing rate, according to Baseball Savant.

The fast swings have already led to two lasers at 115 mph and five total batted balls over 110 mph.

That includes his highest exit velocity of the season, 116.3 mph, tied for the third-best mark in baseball so far this year, mind you, among a group of much younger players.

Since the season is barely two weeks old, I try not to overreact too much to the negatives and focus more on the good stuff. Most people like to see a bit of a bigger sample before getting concerned. Still, I do like to note things.

An early positive stat to note would be something like Stanton’s strikeout rate sitting at 24%, which will most likely even out closer to his career norms around 30%

One possible negative early sign to note is the combination of his launch angle increasing and his xwOBA decreasing.

xwOBA takes into account exit velocity and launch angle. Stanton’s average exit velocity has decreased nearly 3 mph this year, while his average launch angle has steadily climbed over the last couple of seasons.

Stanton’s launch angle is near 23 degrees in 2026, up about five degrees from last year and up eight degrees from 2024.

For reference, his average launch angle for most of his career lay around 8-12 degrees.

This combination, plus an extreme decrease in hard-hit percentage, shows that Stanton is hitting more fly/pop-outs than normal.

This is also more clearly demonstrated by his highest career AIR% on batted balls, at 73.5%, up from his previous high of 64.9% last season.

This fact is particularly intriguing because he is usually known for his level-planed swing, hitting line drives with a short, compact, and explosive swing through the zone.

Good signs or bad signs, the slugger has proven that he is still someone opposing pitchers might want to avoid in the Yanks’ lineup.

He even swiped his first base since 2020 on April 4, possibly trying to add another tool to his bag… only kidding.

With what is likely to be a challenging division race ahead, Stanton’s consistent presence throughout the year will be a crucial factor in the success of the Yankees’ lineup.

He provides another scary bat that lengthens the lineup and improves the team’s chances on any given night, especially when others may be slumping; the need for a healthy Stanton in 2026 cannot be overstated enough.

Quest for 500

500 home runs is a common threshold for the game’s best sluggers to see their names end up in Cooperstown, and Stanton is creeping toward the hallowed milestone.

The only players in baseball history who hit 500 home runs or more and are not in the Hall of Fame have seen their names swirled in various PED scandals, therefore tainting their cases and careers.

Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols are the only exceptions, but both will join the Hall when eligible in the coming years.

In Stanton’s case, the Yankees’ designated hitter is currently sitting at 454 career blasts, making him baseball’s active home run leader.

(He also has 18 career playoff homers, though the league doesn’t count those in career totals – a debate for another time.)

Stanton’s 2025 season was truly the epitome of his tenure as a Yankee; the slugger appeared in just 77 games due to injuries but still clubbed 24 home runs in that limited span.

Over his long career, Stanton has never hit fewer than 20 home runs in a season in which he played more than 70 games, truly a sign that he is one of the game’s best power hitters.

The only two seasons of his entire career with under 20 homers came in 2019, when he only played 18 games, and during the COVID-shortened season of 2020.

When thinking about the future, it’s hard not to think Stanton will hit the 500 mark in the next two or three years if he can just stay in the lineup. (His contract with the Yankees runs through 2027 with a team option for 2028.)

Stanton’s health appears to be the most significant obstacle in his pursuit of 500, as he has consistently demonstrated his ability to produce 20-plus bombs when in the lineup.

It’s tough to harp so much on his health, but we could be talking about a home run total nearing 600 and a surefire HOF bid for him if he had stayed healthy just a bit more throughout his career.

Many fans believe that if he remains fully healthy, he will reach the mark in the next two seasons, as he’d need to average just over 23 homers per year, a figure that appears modest after his remarkable 2025 campaign in limited time.

In my personal opinion, I believe Stanton will eventually hit the mark, but whether it happens in two or more years (and as a Yankee or not) is much harder to think about.