Giancarlo Stanton starts a rehab assignment, could return to Yankees soon

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There remains no official time frame for Giancarlo Stanton’s long-awaited return, but it is starting to come into focus.

The veteran DH, out since early in the spring with tendon tears in both elbows – which the Yankees have characterized as “tennis elbow” – started a rehab assignment Tuesday night with Double-A Somerset.

Because he does not need reps in the field and will be returning strictly as a DH, Stanton is not expected to be on a rehab assignment for long, meaning he could return as soon as this weekend when the Yankees play the Red Sox at Fenway Park, a place the 35-year-old has always hit well (a .312 batting average with seven homers and a .916 OPS in 37 career games).

Speaking before Tuesday night’s game against the Royals, manager Aaron Boone tamped the breaks a bit on the prospect of Stanton returning by the weekend — “I don’t know about that,” Boone said — but nonetheless indicated his rehab assignment won’t be a long one.

“He’s had a pretty big ramp up, he’s had a lot of at-bats already,” Boone said. “Just making sure he’s had the necessary reps and he feels really good about when he’s ready to join us, he’s Big G.”

Boone, who said the decision on Stanton’s return will be a “collaborative” discussion with the player and Yankees’ medical personnel, said the DH was scheduled to play Tuesday night and again on Wednesday. He went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in his first rehab game.

“We’ll see about Thursday, if he’ll play again and what we want to do for the weekend,” Boone said. “We’re just kind of taking it in these two-day increments.”

First, of course, is determining how Stanton’s elbows respond to game action. Stanton, who dealt with the condition much of last season’s second half — including in the playoffs when he was far and away the Yankees’ best offensive performer, homering seven times and producing a 1.048 OPS in 14 games — said shortly after reporting to Tampa for spring training that the discomfort in the elbows would never truly go away.

“It’s going to be [getting] to a point of pain tolerance and go from there,” Stanton said.

Indications have been good in that regard since late March when Stanton started hitting off of the Trajekt machine, which essentially is a pitching robot that can be programmed to replicate the pitch arsenal of a given pitcher.

By mid-April, Stanton started batting practice work in the cages and, on April 22 in Cleveland, hit outside for the first time with his teammates (though, it should be noted, when healthy, Stanton more often than not does his pregame work in the cages and not during on-field BP).

“They’re getting better,” Stanton said of his elbows at Progressive Field after taking outdoor BP April 22.

Stanton progressed two weeks ago to the point of getting sent to Tampa for live at-bats at the team’s minor-league complex, leading to the start of his rehab assignment that commenced Tuesday night.

Once Stanton is cleared for the active roster, the Yankees will have to get creative, barring an injury or two occurring before then, with their daily lineup.

Though Stanton isn’t, at least at the start, going to be in the lineup six or seven days a week, he is going to be the primary DH. Ben Rice has gotten most of the club’s starts at DH (39 games), but Boone has also used that spot for Aaron Judge — who has the second-most games at DH at 15 — as a way to keep the outfielder’s hot bat in the lineup while getting the 32-year-old the occasional day off his feet.

As it is, because of a relatively healthy roster — which is never a bad thing — either Rice, Jasson Dominguez, Trent Grisham or Cody Bellinger has to sit on a daily basis and that balancing act will become that much more complicated for Boone and the Yankees once Stanton is back. Dominguez has the third-most games at DH (eight) and Paul Goldschmidt the fourth-most at two. Rice is an option at first base but hasn’t distinguished himself defensively in his 10 games there and, regardless of that, Goldschmidt is simply the superior defender, having won four Gold Gloves there.

But first things first. Stanton has one last hurdle to clear.

“He’s a pretty good evaluator of that,” Boone said. “He usually doesn’t rush things . . . he knows what he needs to feel with his body.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.