Giancarlo Stanton is built like a Greek God and moves like a Greek sculpture.
In the latest example of, “He can’t actually be that slow, right?“, Stanton was forced out at second base while attempting to move up a base on a ball hit to right field in the sixth inning against the Orioles on Monday.
What should have been a clean hit for Austin Wells 99.9 percent of the time instead turned into a fielder’s choice since Stanton initially hesitated, which loomed large in an eventual 2-0 loss.
While noting the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, the next better, Gleyber Torres, singled to center, although clearly it could not be assumed that Stanton would have scored.
Stanton’s speed — and we use that term quite loosely — has become something to behold as he’s aged, with the former MVP moving at a glacial pace.
While that is tied to an attempt to keep him healthy, the 34-year-old looks like he’s running in slow motion.
And Monday night, it burned the Yankees in a tough loss.
In a 1-0 game in the sixth, Stanton worked a one-out walk before Wells lofted a single into right field, just over the glove of a leaping Jordan Westburg.
It’s fair to note that it was not given Wells had a hit off the bat, since the ball just eluded Westburg, but Stanton doomed himself by retreating back to the bag.
Having to re-shift his momentum the other way combined with his lack of speed made Stanton an easy target, and Anthony Santander came up firing from right field to get Stanton at second base.
YES announcer Michael Kay considered it a foregone conclusion that Wells had a hit.
“That’s a base hit over the try of Westburg,” Kay said. “Let’s see if they get the force at second — and they do. Stanton had to hold up to see if it cleared Westburg, then he doesn’t have great speed, so once he took off, he got forced. That’s not a hit now for Wells.”
The Yankees ultimately finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the game, and they certainly could have used another attempt.
But that’s the risk you take with Stanton on the bases: Even the gimmes can turn into outs.
