{"id":682785,"date":"2026-04-25T22:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T22:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682785\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T22:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T22:15:13","slug":"al-east-notes-stanton-rodon-gray-melton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682785\/","title":{"rendered":"AL East Notes: Stanton, Rodon, Gray, Melton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton<\/a> exited yesterday\u2019s game against the Astros in the sixth inning with right calf tightness. Manager Aaron Boone downplayed the seriousness of this issue, telling Chandler Rome of The Athletic<\/a> it was \u201ctoo early\u201d for him to be concerned. \u201cHopefully we got ahead of anything serious, but we\u2019ll just see where he\u2019s at tomorrow,\u201d said Boone. Stanton is on the bench for today\u2019s game, and no injury list move is pending as of now.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old missed the first half of last season with injuries to both his elbows. Dating back to the 2021 season, he has missed roughly one third of his team\u2019s games, mostly due to lower body injuries. Even so, he remains a crucial part of the lineup. In last year\u2019s half-season, Stanton hit 24 home runs and posted a .321 isolated slugging percentage, his highest mark since coming to New York in 2018. He is not quite at that level so far in 2026, though the team would obviously prefer him healthy and in the lineup. If he eventually misses time this year, that could result in DH at bats for role players like Paul Goldschmidt<\/a> and Amed Rosario<\/a>, neither of whom is an inspiring option in a larger role.<\/p>\n

A few more injury notes out of the AL East:<\/p>\n

On the pitching side in New York, left-hander Carlos Rod\u00f3n<\/a> made his first rehab start yesterday for the Yankees\u2019 High-A affiliate. According to Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru of MLB.com<\/a>, the club anticipates he\u2019ll need three rehab starts before rejoining the rotation. Assuming he stays on track, that could put him in line to start at the end of the May 8-10 series against the Brewers, or possibly against Baltimore from May 11-13. New York\u2019s rotation has been exceptional to start the year, posting league-best marks in ERA (2.61) and K-BB rate (19.7%). Luis Gil<\/a> has been the only weak spot, so he\u2019s the likeliest candidate for a demotion when Rod\u00f3n makes his return.
\nInjured Red Sox starter Sonny Gray<\/a> is traveling with the team and set to throw a bullpen session on Monday, per manager Alex Cora (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive<\/a>). That implies the right-hander, who was placed on the 15-day IL on Monday, will not require a rehab assignment and could return with a minimal absence. That would be welcome news for Boston, as their rotation has struggled to a 4.61 ERA through their first 26 games. Gray isn\u2019t off to a great start himself, but he was a capable mid-rotation arm from 2023-25, so the club is unbothered by the results in a small sample size. His eventual return may spell a demotion for Payton Tolle<\/a>, who struck out 11 hitters in six innings in his season debut on Thursday.
\nRays outfield prospect Jacob Melton<\/a> has a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and is out of game action for 4-6 weeks, according to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times<\/a>. Melton, who was acquired in a three-team trade in December, currently\u00a0ranks as the club\u2019s third-best prospect according to MLB.com<\/a>. He is likely to see time in the Majors this year. The starting outfielders \u2013 Chandler Simpson<\/a>, Jake Fraley<\/a>, and Cedric Mullins<\/a> \u2013 all have plus range or arm strength, but they are also below-average hitters. Melton\u2019s scouting report mentions room for improvement on his hit tool, though he flashed plus power at Triple-A in 2024-25 and is a solid defender.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Maria Lysaker, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton exited yesterday\u2019s game against the Astros in the sixth inning with right calf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,2004,310,18418,1587],"class_list":{"0":"post-682785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-carlos-rodon","10":"tag-giancarlo-stanton","11":"tag-jacob-melton","12":"tag-sonny-gray"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116467657879709772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}