Giancarlo Stanton smashes first home run wearing protective guard

New-look helmet, same Giancarlo Stanton.

Sporting the protective guard he plans to wear all season, the Miami Marlins slugger got back to what he does best on Wednesday: smashing home runs.

Stanton hit his first dinger since being hit in the face with a fastball on Sept. 11 and suffering several facial fractures. He did it in style too, going opposite-field off Nationals right-hander Casey Janssen in the sixth inning of Miami’s 5-4 Grapefruit League win.

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“Today was a good day, obviously, in terms of timing and barrel placement,” Stanton said after the game. “It’s where I want it to be.”

The towering shot looked just as sweet from the dugout as it did from the batter’s box.

”He looks great,” added Marlins manager Mike Redmond. ”He looks confident. His swings look good.”

You can’t ask for anything more than that. One of the game’s premier power hitters is sending balls over the outfield wall again and there should be many more to come this season.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr