Giancarlo Stanton is making his season debut…

The 35-year-old part-Puerto Rican designated hitter for the New York Yankees was reinstated from the injured list on Monday to make his season debut against the Los Angeles Angels, giving the club a surplus of lineup options.

Stanton was sidelined through Sunday, missing the Yankees’ first 70 games with tendon injuries in both elbows. He played through the joint pain in 2024, including in the postseason when he smashed seven home runs in 14 games, but he was shut down from swinging a bat in January until late March.

He’ll bat fifth for the Yankees on Monday.

Stanton was eligible for reinstatement from the 60-day injured list in late May, but the Yankees, not desperate for offense and with multiple choices for DH, did not rush him back.

Stanton began a rehab assignment last week, appearing in three games for Double-A Somerset after an extended period taking swings off machines and in live batting practice. He went 3-for-11 with a double, four RBIs, a walk and three strikeouts for Somerset.

On Monday, he took the field at Yankee Stadium for an early batting practice session against a high-speed machine in preparation for his debut.

The Yankees have 16 games over the next 16 days, but manager Aaron Boone does not expect Stanton, whose 429 career home runs lead all active players, to play every day. Stanton’s availability will partly depend on his next-day recovery after a game.

“I would think that things might come up from time to time and that could play into different things on a given day if you feel like it’s best to give him a day,” Boone said. “But I think he’s built some good momentum here over the last couple of months with it. The strength in his hands and things like that has returned in a good way so certainly something we’ll pay attention to but feel like we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Boone has the luxury to play it on the safer side with an offense that thrived without the slugger. The Yankees entered Monday ranked second in the majors with a 123 weighted runs created plus and .794 OPS with Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Jasson Dominguez primarily cycling through the DH spot.

That’s where things become complicated. Stanton’s return will, as it stands, present a daily lineup puzzle for Boone to solve — not only in the DH slot, but in the outfield where he has Judge plus three players (Dominguez, Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham) for two spots (center field and left field). Decisions will mostly come down to workload and matchups.

“I’ve talked to them, and we know what the goal is,” Boone said. “And right now it’s to get to the playoffs and try and win a division and then obviously from there, trying to get to and win a World Series. So, making sure we have everyone on the same page and the buy-in. And there’s going to be days when maybe a guy deserves to be in there, isn’t. Everyone’s not going to be happy about it all the time and that’s OK.”

Stanton’s return most impacts Rice, who has started 43 of the Yankees’ 70 games as their DH. The second-year player began Monday batting .227 with 12 home runs and a .771 OPS.

Boone on Monday repeated that he plans to occasionally have Rice start at catcher to alleviate the logjam and get his bat in the lineup more often.

Rice, 26, was drafted as a catcher and spent most of his minor league career behind the plate, but he has yet to start at the position for the Yankees since making his major league debut last season. Rice has tallied just 6⅔ innings behind the plate in the majors.

The Yankees designated utility man Pablo Reyes for assignment to make room on the active roster for Stanton.