New York Yankees legend and current Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly predicts success for Giancarlo Stanton in the Bronx.
New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton is in a “good spot” with the Bronx Bombers, according to former Yankees player and current Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly.
“[He’s] in a good spot,” Mattingly told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “He’ll be fine. If you’re good on the field, then you’re good everywhere. He’s not a guy that’s out in Page Six. He’s a young guy, he has fun, but he’s pretty private. I think that’s good for him in New York. He’s played enough. He’s got confidence in his ability. I think once you have confidence in the field, you just kind of deal with everything else.”
Stanton visited with Mattingly and his former teammates before Sunday’s exhibition game between the Yankees and Marlins, embracing his old skipper.
“It was good to see those guys,” Stanton told Hoch. “I caught up with them for a little bit, checked in how things are doing. It was just good to see them.”
Mattingly knows what it’s like to play in New York and believes that Stanton will be successful with the Yankees.
“The field is the field, hitting’s hitting and that doesn’t really change no matter where you are at,’’ Donnie Baseball explained to the New York Post‘s Kevin Kernan. “The expectations in New York obviously are a lot different than they were in Miami. I think there are different demands. That’s the biggest adjustment for ‘G’ — it’s just a little bit different animal.But if you are good on the field, you are good everywhere, and he is good on the field.”
Stanton talked about the pressure of playing in New York.
“I still got to perform the way I can, too,’’ he told Kernan. “I’ll get a lot of help on days I don’t produce, but I’m part of that lineup, so we are all a whole.’’
The Yankees slugger had an RBI single in the seventh inning and walked twice on Sunday. He is hitting .229 with one home run and six RBI this spring. Yankees manager Aaron Boone believes that Stanton has blended in perfectly, saying that he thinks the team has made the slugger feel at home.
Now all Stanton has to do is prove that Donnie Baseball is right about him. No pressure, ‘G’.
