Giancarlo Stanton is known to be an avid world traveler during his offseasons and may well check another foreign country off his list this winter.
But the Yankees slugger also will be visiting a less exquisite destination: the lab.
Coming off a season in which he hit a career-low .191 with 24 home runs and a career-low .695 OPS, Stanton is entering a vital offseason in which he will try to make the necessary adjustments to turn himself back into an impact bat again.
“There’ll be a lot of changes,” Stanton said on the final day of the regular season. “I’ve talked about how bad the year has been, so not much more to touch on that. But there will be a lot in the lab in the offseason.”
Asked about particulars, Stanton said, “Everything will be taken a look at.” He didn’t think it would take a major overhaul, just “minor [tweaks], but the right ones.”
“It’s a lot of film, a lot of thought process in it,” he said. “What was my thought process during a lot of the film and how they match up with other years, other good times, bad times, etc. Just get a good game plan for next year.”
The 33-year-old can still light up Statcast like few others; he had the eighth-highest average exit velocity (93.3 mph) in the majors this season. But too often Stanton was either not making contact or not able to turn those hard-hit balls into productive results.
It was especially noticeable as he usually occupied the cleanup spot of a lineup that also struggled around him. But with the Yankees still owing him $98 million over the next four years — and Stanton owning a no-trade clause — they desperately need him to perform at least closer to his old self.
“Obviously been a disappointing one for G,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I absolutely believe it’s still in there for him to be what we need him to be in the middle of our lineup. He’s going to be one of those guys that has to have a really strong winter. He and I have already spoken about that and have some thoughts. But I absolutely believe it’s in there for him to be the factor we need him to be. He believes that, he knows that and I think he is uber-focused on making sure he’s the guy we need him to be next year.”
Then there was how he looked on the bases, with his history of lower-body strains — or protecting against more of them — appearing to take a toll on his legs. His slow gait at times hurt the Yankees, and his average sprint speed of 24.4 feet per second was the sixth-slowest mark in the majors (minimum 100 opportunities), often looking like he was laboring to run.
Boone indicated that he and Stanton have talked about making physical changes to address that, though neither side offered specifics.
“Certainly he has that strong input on that and I think he’s in the right frame of mind and the right focus,” Boone said.
Way back in spring training, there were talks of Aaron Judge playing an occasional left field at Yankee Stadium so that Stanton could play right field and the DH spot could be freed up. Of course, it never came to fruition because by Opening Day, Harrison Bader was already injured, so Judge just played center field more often.
Stanton did start five of his first 10 games in right field and he got off to a solid start at the plate. But by April 16 he landed on the injured list for a hamstring strain that cost him six weeks.
Still, Judge floated an interesting idea when talking about how he still believed Stanton had better days ahead of him.
“If we give him a chance to keep in the outfield a little bit longer, keep him moving, I think that’s really the biggest thing,” Judge said on Sunday. “Because I’ve been DHing a couple of these days, man, it’s tough to go from just sitting on the bench [to] hitting. You’re not really in the game as much as you are when you’re playing defense. So I think if there’s a way we can find a way to mix him in the outfield a little bit more, keep him moving, I think that’ll help him out.”