New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton continues to deal with significant pain due to tennis elbow in both arms, but he has no plans on missing time this season.
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According to NJ.com, he said that he just has some days that are good and some days that are bad. Such is the life of a pro athlete dealing with a health concern.
"I can't open a bottle," Stanton told the outlet at spring training. "I can't open a bag of chips ... a bag of anything. That's the way it is."
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The 36-year-old only appeared in 77 games last season while rehabbing his elbows. He's only appeared in 582 of a possible 1,032 regular-season games since the 2019 season.
Yet, he has hit at least 24 home runs in a season four times during this stretch. This includes 35 in 2021 and 31 in 2022.
The 2017 MVP has plans to play the full season. If he accomplishes this, he will have an opportunity to boost his place on the MLB leaderboard. He is the active home run leader with 453. Mike Trout (404) is the only other active player with at least 400 home runs.
Surgery to clean out the tendons in both elbows remained a possibility, but Stanton did not take this route.
"You get the surgery and you can go back to being in the general population in a few months, but my job is to put some of the most force into a batted ball," he told NJ.com. Stanton added that surgery would not fix the issue.
The Yankees have taken a slower approach to getting Stanton into action during spring training. He has worked in the batting practice and taken live pitches, but he missed several Grapefruit League games.
The bigger milestone at this point is March 25. This marks Opening Day for the New York Yankees as the team kicks off a series against the San Francisco Giants.
