For fans of baseball, Giancarlo Stanton is simply one of the best things to come out of the sport in a long time. A massively-talented outfielder, Stanton opted out of college to join Miami Marlins in 2007. He impressively made it to the major leagues three years later and has since gone on to mesmerize the league with his performance.
Renowned for his prodigious hitting skills, Stanton has set several records for the teams that he has turned out for. He has also collected an array of accolades including the most valuable player award in 2017. Such astonishing achievements leave many fans and analysts spellbound but they don’t come as a surprise to his family given his early antecedents.
Choosing Between Football and Baseball
Born on the 18th day of November 1989, Giancarlo Stanton grew up in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles and first dabbled into baseball at the age of three. He also discovered a flair for football around the same time and so joined various kid leagues in both sports. He subsequently extended his talents to the school arena. For his high school education, Stanton initially schooled at Verdugo Hills High School before transferring to Notre Dame High School.
It was at Notre Dame that he showed his athletic prowess by lettering in three sports namely football, baseball, and basketball. The young lad excelled so much as that he was offered several scholarships in that regard. Stanton received football scholarship offers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and the University of Southern California (USC). He also scored a baseball scholarship offer from Tulane University and opted to take that one having decided to pursue a career in MLB.
How Giancarlo Stanton Went From Minor League Player to MLB Star
Just after he accepted the scholarship offer from Tulane, Stanton was drafted by the Miami Marlins (formerly Florida Marlins) in the second round of the 2007 amateur draft. He, therefore, jettisoned the NCAA division and joined the Marlins. As is usual with the game of baseball, Stanton started off by playing in various minor leagues including the Rookie-Level Gold Coast League. He spent about three years there during which his excellent output convinced his coaches that he was too good for the minor leagues. They, therefore, had no trouble upgrading him to the major leagues in 2010.
Giancarlo Stanton made his MLB debut on the 8th of June 2010 in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Even though his team lost the game 8 – 10, he still announced his appearance in a big way by scoring twice during the game. The player continued this fine form all throughout his rookie season and recorded 22 home runs, 59 RBIs, and a batting average of .259. This fantastic feat fetched him several accolades including selections to Baseball America’s All-Rookie Team and Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team.
Following that impressive rookie season, Gianfranco Stanton spent six more years with the Marlins during which he set several franchise records including most career runs and RBIs, as well as most home runs and RBIs in a season. He then bade farewell to the franchise and joined the New York Yankees in December 2017. With the Yankees, Stanton made two home runs during his first game, shattering the record set by Joe Pepitone of getting a multi-home run game on Opening Day. Throughout the 2018 season, he took part in 158 games and recorded a total of .2266 batting average, 38 home runs, and 100 RBI. He looked set to repeat the same for the 2019 season but his plans were truncated by injury.
What Accolades Has He Garnered In His Career So Far?
Even though he is yet to win the MLB’s ultimate trophy a.k.a. The World Series, Stanton has nevertheless received several awards for his individual performance thus showing that the fault does not lie in his stars. The California native has thus far received All-star honors (4x), National League RBI leader (1x), and National League home run leader (2x).
Stanton has also received the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Silver Slugger Award (best offensive player) at least once. He has been named the recipient of the Hank Aaron Award (given to the best hitter in the league) on two occasions and in 2017, he was recognized as the Most Valuable Player in the National League in 2017.
Analyzing His Father’s Impact on his Career
Stanton is the son of an Irish father, Michael Stanton, and Jacinta Garay, a woman of African-American and Puerto-Rican origins. The MLB star also has two elder siblings namely brother, Egidio Carlos Moacir Garay Stanton as well as sister, Kyrice Valivia. Staton’s parents divorced when he was just eight and the whole thing shattered his soul. He was, however, able to recover because his dad made a conscious effort to be in his life.
It was also his dad that inspired his love for the game. As the story goes, Stanton Sr. played high school baseball and started playing with his son when the boy was just three. He enrolled him in baseball clinics and also made out time to attend and watch him play. Even though the senior Stanton worked grueling shifts at work, he would nevertheless make time to go and hit with his son at the park near their house. He also ensured that his son had a healthy eating habit.
All these helped Stanton to become the formidable star today and he remains eternally grateful to his dad. His proud papa, however, refuses to take the ovation and insists that his son is self-made. Stanton Sr. regularly attends his son’s games and for the ones he can’t physically attend, he makes sure he watches on the television screens. Father and son remain quite close to this day and their bond remains unbreakable.
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Giancarlo Stanton Is Still Searching for his Better Half
Giancarlo Stanton has made everything related to his career public but has succeeded in keeping his personal affairs under the radar. This has led to several speculations about his sexual orientation with many thinking he was probably gay. They, however, were put in check when the MLB star publicly declared that he has a straight sexual orientation and doesn’t have any issues with marriage and commitment. He also said he has remained single because he has not met the woman of his dreams.
Despite all these, the baseball player has been linked to a few models over the years. His first rumored relationship started after he uploaded the pictures of the Portuguese model, Sara Sampaio, on his Instagram page. There was however no confirmation of the affair and the player was then linked to a model named Raquel Vera. This romance was also never confirmed.
One confirmed relationship that Stanton has been in was his romance with the model, Chase Carter. Carter is a biracial lady of Bahamian nationality. She was scouted at the age of 13 and has since gone on to model for the likes of Maybelline, Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren, Nike, and Phillip Plein. She was named Sports Illustrated rookie of the year for 2018.
Stanton and Chase first became an item in the summer of 2018. Their relationship lasted for several months during which the model, a keen sports fan, attended some of her man’s games. He also supported her own career by attending the launch of her magazine cover in March 2019. Chase and Stanton remained together until November 2019 when rumors surfaced that they may have broken up as they unfollowed each other on Instagram. Since then, the MLB star has been linked with UFC fighter, Arianny Celeste, after he liked a series of her Instagram pics.
