Giancarlo Stanton puts the rest of MLB on notice with thunderous Yankees debut
It didn’t take long for Giancarlo Stanton to turn in a video game-like performance with the New York Yankees. He brought to life what Yankees fans have been dreaming about since he was traded to New York in December: Two homers, four RBIs and a Yankees win that will strike fear in pitchers everywhere.
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In his first at-bat of the 2018 season, Stanton hit a 117 mph laser home run off Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ. Yep, 117 mph. Well, 117.3 to be exact. Only 18 balls were hit harder than that in all of the 2017 season.
Oh, and he wasn’t done there. His second at-bat brought an RBI double. The Blue Jays managed to strike out the next time he was up, but Stanton got revenge with another homer in the ninth inning that sealed the Yankees’ 6-1 win.
Giancarlo Stanton CRUSHES his 2nd home run of the game. pic.twitter.com/U1hL60CtHd
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 29, 2018
The list of Yankees who have hit two homers in their pinstripe debut is short and powerful, according to Katie Sharp of River Ave. Blues: Stanton in 2018 and Roger Maris in 1960. Not bad company.
And not what the rest of MLB was hoping to see. This put the rest of the league on notice: Stanton and the Yankees are just as good as you’re afraid they’re going to be.
Two homers by Stanton is picking up where he left off last year when he hit a league-high 59 homers and won the NL MVP. After the season, the Miami Marlins dealt Stanton to the Yankees, where he now forms a frightening 1-2 punch with Aaron Judge.
We saw Thursday just how dangerous the two of them can be in that first inning. After Brett Gardner led off the game and reached base on an error, Happ was able to strike out Judge. That was a relief — until Stanton came up next and bopped the two-run homer.
As a tandem, Stanton and Judge were 5-for-9 — Stanton was a lot of that, but Judge also had two hits of his own.
Many people were curious what Yankees announcer John Sterling would say for Stanton homers, well we’ve found out. It’s in Italian.
This is why Twitter is the best. John Sterling's home run call was actually:
"Giancarlo, non si può stopparlo!", which is in Italian: "Giancarlo, you can't stop him!"
Thanks, @LucaCesaretti
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 29, 2018
You might have trouble repeating it, but you’re probably going to hear a lot of it.
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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
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