Giancarlo Stanton milestone sparks 'what if' discussion regarding career

New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton hit the 400th home run of his career on Tuesday night in a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, putting him in some pretty exclusive company.

It also serves as a reminder to what his career could have been with better health luck. 

Stanton became the fourth-fastest player in Major League history to reach the 400 home run mark, doing so in just his 1,520th game. That trails only Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez on the all-time list for fastest players to 400 home runs.

When healthy, Stanton has been one of the most dangerous and powerful home run hitters of his, or any, era. And that has to make you wonder what his career could have looked like today — and beyond — had so much of it not been completely decimated by injuries. 

Especially in recent years. 

Over his 14-year career with Miami and New York, he has managed to play in more than 120 games just six times, and only four times has played in more than 140 games. 

On the opposite side of that, he has had five seasons where he has failed to play in even 100 games, including two seasons with less than 30 games.

Just try to imagine how many home runs he could be missing out on right now with better health. Because even when he is not fully 100% and is playing through something he can still hit the ball as hard and as far as anybody. 

This season is a perfect example of that. 

Stanton has become a focal of point for boos in the Bronx because of how much his overall play has deteriorated and declined, but the power is still very much there. 

He can barely run, he can not play the field, and he is only hitting .204. But he still has 22 home runs in 86 games. That is a 41-home run pace over 162 games, which would be among the best numbers in baseball. 

Given the pace he has hit homers throughout his career it is not a stretch to think that we could be talking about a player that is already well over 500 home runs, and perhaps already approaching 600 home runs.

Stanton is 33 years old and probably still has a few more years left in his career and could still make a serious run at 500, but it's probably nothing compared to what he could have done if his body had cooperated more throughout his career.