Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Spring training games are meaningless, but don’t tell that to Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The former MVP desperately needs a bounceback season and had himself quite a tuneup against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In the Yankees’ 12-0 win, Stanton smashed three home runs, including a grand slam, with eight RBI. The first went over the batter’s eye in center field, while the second went over the scoreboard in left. All three shots came off of lefty Marco Gonzales.

It’s been a great spring for the noticeably slimmer Giancarlo Stanton. He’s batting .314 with four homers and ten RBI with a 1.073 OPS in 12 games. It looks like the Yankees were onto something in getting him to drop some weight.

He’s expected to be the regular designated hitter to start the season. However, if health isn’t an issue, don’t be surprised to see Stanton get more playing time in the outfield.

Josh Benjamin has been a staff writer at ESNY since 2018. He has had opinions about everything, especially the Yankees and Knicks. He co-hosts the “Bleacher Creatures” podcast and is always looking for new pieces of sports history to uncover, usually with a Yankee Tavern chicken parm sub in hand.