Stanton hit 59 home runs for the Miami Marlins last season and will join the American League home run champ, Aaron Judge. It will be the fourth time in MLB history that the two leagues home run leaders played for the same team the following season.<\/p>\n
It will also be the second time that two teammates who hit 50 or more dingers in the previous season are teammates. The other was another pair of Yankees, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1962.<\/p>\n
The only hiccup with the deal is that both sluggers play right field and new manager Aaron Boone will have to figure out how to fit them both in the lineup. There is a possibility one of them would move to left or be the designated hitter.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s general manager Billy Eppler thinks he has found the first player who can dominate on the mound and at the plate since Babe Ruth, but history is against him. Other players have tried to do both and failed, eventually having to concentrate on one discipline. Even Ruth left pitching to focus on hitting.<\/p>\n
The executive, though, is undeterred, as were several other general managers, who coveted Ohtani. He managed to do both in the Nippon League in Japan and Eppler believes he can duplicate that in the states.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThere was a wow factor to him,\u201d Eppler said. \u201cHe was a little bit of a showstopper. Big fastball. The ability to throw three off-speed pitches for strikes. And have the presence in the batter’s box that we gravitated to. He fits a lot of our offensive philosophy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nHe won\u2019t play in the outfield on days he doesn\u2019t pitch, instead he will be the team\u2019s designated hitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They weren\u2019t favorites to win the World Series next year but the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees definitely improved their odds after signing big name players. The American League teams also improved their chances to win the division. The Bronx Bombers were already in the mix to win the AL Championship Series, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":65121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,18,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
World Series Odds Drop for Angels, Yankees After Star Signings<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n