Giancarlo Stanton will be making his first All-Star appearance since 2017 when he starts in the outfield at Dodger Stadium on July 19.

Both the All-Star Game and regular appearances in the outfield seemed a long way off at times during Stanton’s first four seasons in The Bronx, a stretch Stanton called “interesting” after he was named to the Midsummer Classic last week.

“It was a very annoying and very frustrating time to deal with,” Stanton said this weekend at Fenway Park of his injury-plagued first seasons as a Yankee following the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Marlins to the Yankees following his 2017 NL MVP season.

“It hurts the team, as well as me, not being able to be in the field,” Stanton said. “I’m smart enough to understand I was choke-holding the lineup a little bit by not being able to get out there.”

So when he slumped and didn’t produce like he did in Miami, he was even more displeased.

“That was a big part of it,” Stanton said. “Not being able to be out there [in the field] when you’re not hitting the way you’d like, you can’t even help the team on defense. You feel like a one-sided player.”

After playing 72 games in the outfield in 2018, that number slipped to 13 in 2019 and none in 2020 before appearing in 26 games a year ago.

This season, he’s already played in 34 games on defense, which is what general manager Brian Cashman said he had in mind when he swung the trade for Stanton.

“It wasn’t our plan, when we acquired him, to just have him at DH,” Cashman said. “It was for he and Judge to share time back and forth [in the outfield]. But it didn’t work out that way initially. There was a period of time when [Stanton] got hit with injuries, but hopefully that’s behind us now. Once [Aaron Boone] felt comfortable deploying him there, it’s given us a lot of flexibility.”

But even when Stanton was limited physically and missed large chunks of time, Cashman said he never second-guessed the move to bring Stanton to New York.

“I haven’t once felt bad about the trade,” Cashman said. “We didn’t give up anything and got an All-Star caliber player that, bottom-line, when healthy, I don’t think any pitcher wants to face. He’s proven he can play in the postseason and he’s been an unbelievable teammate, no matter what’s going on.”

While Judge has carried the offense — and the Yankees — he’s credited Stanton’s presence in the lineup as a reason why he’s had some of the success he has.

Lately, the streaky Stanton has been in a bit of a rut.

Before his two-hit night in Sunday’s loss to Boston, Stanton was in a 34-game stretch in which he hit just .139 (16-for-115), but 10 of those hits were homers.

Stanton said he’s looking for more consistency at the plate, but is pleased the power has still been present, even if the hits haven’t come as frequently as he’d like.

As for any disappointment he’s felt in not producing as much as he’d expected during times as a Yankee, he said he tried to block out external criticisms and focus on his own.

“I try to make sure I don’t do this for anyone but myself,’’ Stanton said. “Everything else is secondary. I put in all the work, so I have to be my biggest critic and biggest cheerleader at the same time. But it definitely wasn’t ideal. I understand the weight of all that goes into it. No one was more disappointed anywhere than me. I know what my job is and it’s all I’m focused on.”