Inside Giancarlo Stanton’s injury hell: ‘Incredibly frustrated’

In the connective tissue of Yankees injuries, Giancarlo Stanton worsened his leg problems — to some degree — because Aaron Judge is still weeks away from playing while healing from an oblique injury.

Aaron Boone recently called Stanton to say: Take your time making sure your legs are in good shape because upon return you will mainly be a right fielder in place of Judge — not a DH. Stanton, though, was already so annoyed about missing time due to biceps then shoulder issues that he tried to work through knee pain created from a hit by pitch in extended spring.

Knowing he needed to play the outfield, Stanton continued to run to build up leg strength and, instead, changed his gait enough to, in Boone’s term, incur a “mild strain of the calf.”

Stanton’s thoughts and injury timeline were provided by his agent, Joel Wolfe, who told The Post of his client, “He’s incredibly frustrated by what has happened because he wants to get back to the team. And he was just a few days away. If he was not [hit by a pitch], this would not have happened. It was just bad luck.”

Stanton played just three games in his second Yankees season before suffering a Grade I tear of his left biceps swinging in a game. The initial Yankees hope was to get the slugger back by late April. Wolfe said Stanton initially wanted to try to play through the injury and then tried to return too quickly and hurt his shoulder. A first cortisone shot did not work well, so Wolfe said Stanton went for a second, stronger shot in Los Angeles, which was more effective and began to progress better.

Stanton was hit on the knee last week during extended spring (Wolfe mentioned that another client, Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo, also was set back by being hit by pitches in extended spring). Nevertheless, Stanton played right field Monday for Single-A Tampa and homered once in three at-bats. He was scheduled to play Tuesday, but was scratched with left knee/calf discomfort. And Wednesday, the Yankees revealed the new injury publicly, and Stanton had his rehab stint halted.

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