BRONX — The Yankees weren’t looking at Harrison Bader to be any sort of savoir upon his return to the lineup on Tuesday, but it felt good for once for the Bombers to be getting someone back from the injured list instead of putting someone on it.
Bader returned to the Yankees lineup from a strained oblique and batted fifth in the order against the Cleveland Guardians. His return came at a time when New York has been battered and bruised with a number of players on the IL, including outfielder Aaron Judge, which has put greater significance on Bader getting healthy.
While Bader has been aware of the situation it hasn’t put any extra pressure on him to get back into the lineup.
“That can never be a part of the equation,” Bader said at his locker before the game. “It’s easy to kind of fall into that, but you know, there’s never any pressure from the Yankees on their side to push anything along. The same on my side. You know, I know what I have to feel to be effective for this team to help them win. And that doesn’t involve pushing the timeline up in any way. … You kind of have to separate the two and realize that my situation individually coming back is different than what the team is really needing.”
The Yankees have been hurting in the worst way for offense as the injuries have pilled up in the Bronx. The team has one of the lowest batting averages, OBP and OPS in Major League Baseball this season and they’ve scored three or fewer runs in their last 15 games dating back to April 10 going into Tuesday night’s game.
Bader has shown that he can provide some offense, slashing 333/.429/.833 with five home runs during the Yankees’ playoff run last season. He had struggled a bit at the plate during his rehab stints going just 3-for-25.
The Yankee outfielder said he was feeling “awesome” at the plate and that he had been aware of the tough situation that the Yankees had found themselves in at the start of the year.
“It’s…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply