Giancarlo Stanton trend is positive sign for Yankees despite .656 OPS

Giancarlo Stanton is in a slump at the plate for the New York Yankees. 

As New York's designated hitter, the club relies on him to mash baseballs and often turn bad pitches into home runs. Except that's not happening right now. 

Stanton has just two homers and owns a .656 OPS through 20 games. The 36-year-old is a streaky hitter and has just eight hits in 55 at-bats in April, good for a .145 batting average. 

However, there is a silver lining. At Stanton's advanced age in professional baseball, his bat speed is quicker than that of any other player in the Majors. 

Stanton's average bat speed is currently 79.7 mph, 0.2 mph faster than Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays. 

More: Shohei Ohtani deemed more valuable than Aaron Judge in recent ESPN discussion piece

Sooner or later, Stanton will break out of his slump and likely go on a hot streak. His last hit was a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Angels this past Thursday. 

Following Thursday's home run, Stanton went hitless in nine combined plate appearances over the weekend against the Kansas City Royals. He was out of the lineup for Sunday's series finale. 

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