You Are Here > Baseball-Reference.com > Bullpen > Giancarlo Stanton - BR Bullpen

Giancarlo Stanton

From BR Bullpen

(Redirected from Mike Stanton (stantmi03))
Jump to: navigation, search
Mike Stanton

Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton
(Mike)

BR page

Contents

[edit] Biographical Information

Giancarlo Stanton began 2010 as one of baseball's top prospects and made his major league debut with the Florida Marlins on June 8th of that season. He has been known as Mike Stanton during his minor league career and first two seasons in the big leagues, but in 2012 instructed his team to have him introduced by his official first name, explaining that "Mike" was a nickname he had started using in elementary school when his friends had trouble pronouncing "Giancarlo", the name his mother gave him and which he has always used on legal documents.

Stanton was taken by the Marlins in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft, one round after Matt Dominguez, a fellow Californian high schooler. Signed by scout Tim McDonnell, he made his pro debut with the GCL Marlins and hit .269/.321/.346 in 8 games and was only 2 for 30 with a double, homer and 15 whiffs for the Jamestown Jammers. Baseball America still named him the best power hitter and best athlete in the Marlins chain.

Giancarlo spent 2008 with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, batting .293/.381/.611 with 26 doubles, 39 home runs (a team record), 89 runs, 97 RBI and 153 strikeouts. He led the South Atlantic League in homers, extra-base hits (68), intentional walks (7), total bases (286) and slugging and was 3rd in runs (4 shy of the lead) and RBI (5 behind leader and league MVP Darin Holcomb). He led Marlins minor leaguers in total bases and was second in homers (3 behind Dallas McPherson) and RBI (one behind McPherson). Baseball America named him Florida's #2 prospect and best power hitter as well as Florida's minor league Player of the Year and the best power prospect in the SAL. He was named to the SAL All-Star outfield alongside Jason Heyward and Caleb Gindl. Baseball America rated him the loop's third-best prospect after Madison Bumgarner and Heyward and right ahead of Jhoulys Chacin and Dominguez. He was 4th in the affiliated minors in slugging (behind Nelson Cruz, Kila Ka'aihue and McPherson, all of the high-scoring Pacific Coast League), tied for second (with Mark Trumbo) in total bases, two behind leader Chris Carter) and tied Carter for second in homers, behind only McPherson.

Still only 19 years old, Stanton remained an elite prospect in 2009 despite a decline in average. He hit .294/.390/.578 in 50 games for the Jupiter Hammerheads and .231/.311/.455 with 16 homers in 79 games for the Jacksonville Suns. He led Marlins minor leaguers in home runs (28), runs (76), RBI (92) and total bases (240) while finishing third with 144 strikeouts. He led both Jupiter and Jacksonville in home runs, an amazing feat. In the 2009 Futures Game, he backed up Heyward in right field for the USA. He struck out against Luis Pérez in the 5th and drew a walk from Juan Carlos Sulbaran in the 7th. Baseball America named him the best power prospect in both the Southern League and Florida State League. They also named him the top prospect in the FSL (just ahead of Jesus Montero) and the #4 prospect in the SL (behind Heyward, Gordon Beckham and Desmond Jennings and just ahead of Jarrod Parker). He was 11 for 23 for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. Baseball America rated him the third-best prospect in minor league baseball following Heyward and Stephen Strasburg.

Stanton has begun 2010 back with Jacksonville on one heck of a tear with 15 home runs in 28 games, 28 walks, 28 runs and 33 RBI with a batting line of .340/.481/.854. After 52 games, he had 21 home runs and 52 RBI when he was called up to the Marlins. He made his debut on June 8th, the same day that Stephen Strasburg was gathering national media attention while making his first start for the Washington Nationals. Stanton got off on the right foot, going 3 for 5 with two runs scored in a 10-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. In his rookie season, he hit .259 in 100 games with 22 homers and 59 RBI. He was named to the 2010 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. Back as the Marlins' starting right fielder in 2011, he hit 34 homers in 150 games - good for 5th in the National League - along with 30 doubles and 87 RBI. His batting average was .262 and he also drew 70 walks fo a .356 OBP, confirming his place as one of the top young power hitters in the major leagues.

With the team now known as the Miami Marlins in 2012, and sporting his birth name, he staked an early claim for the hardest ball ever hit at his team's new digs, Marlins Park. On May 21st, he crushed one of ageless Jamie Moyer's pitches to left field, and it took out a portion of the lights on the scoreboard as he cleared the bases with a grand slam. Teammate Heath Bell commented: "I've never seen a ball leave the yard so fast." His blast was largely responsible for a 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies. It was already his 9th long ball of the year, matching his previous season's pace.

[edit] Notable Achievements

[edit] Sources

[edit] Related Sites

Retrieved from "http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Giancarlo_Stanton"
Personal tools