Can Harrison Bader's return help jumpstart Yankees? Right now, they can only hope

NEW YORK – One player can’t jumpstart a team on his own, but the Yankees have to at least hope that Harrison Bader’s return will help.

The team on Tuesday welcomed the centerfielder back from the injured list, where he’s been since mid-March with a strained left oblique.

At a time when the Yankees have been losing one productive player after another to injuries, Bader’s return was a positive in an otherwise arduous stretch.

“Just really excited to be back,” Bader said before the Yankees 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium. “There’s a job to be done so I’m excited to get back in the lineup and just start playing some baseball and help these guys win.”

Bader was in the starting lineup batting fifth and playing in center. He finished 1-for-4, reaching on an infield single in the bottom of the eighth.

The Yankees hadn’t been doing a lot of winning recently, losers of four straight and seven of nine entering Tuesday, including a heartbreaking one-run loss to Cleveland Monday night.

Bader, a Bronxville native and Horace Mann graduate, believes things will turn around.

“Everybody has a job to do out there and play their game,” Bader said. “The results haven’t necessarily been there but it’s a clubhouse filled with really good guys. Guys who work really hard and all play a really good game. There’s a time where that will just jel. Tonight will be an opportunity to go out there and have that potentially jel and I’m excited to join them and just go out there and play some winning baseball.”

The Yankees’ outfield has been hit particularly hard with injuries – both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are on the IL. The outfielders who have stayed healthy – whether it’s Aaron Hicks or Oswaldo Cabrera or Isiah Kiner-Falefa – haven’t produced consistently.

Bader, who joined the Yankees in a trade with the Cardinals last season, was stellar in the playoffs, going 6-for-15 (.400) with a pair of homers.

Whether Bader can ignite the offense remains to be seen. Boone was just as eager to get his glove back in the outfield.

“He’s a good player, first and foremost,” Boone said. “A two-way player obviously. A great defender at a premium position, so to be able to get that back, we’re obviously looking forward to that. Obviously a guy that when he got back to us at the end of last year going into the playoffs, went on a pretty special offensive run as well. He brings some power and some speed to the lineup as well as premium defense.”

And Bader flashed that premium defense in the top of the fifth, making a diving catch to rob Josh Bell of a hit with two outs and a runner on first.

"He's such a difference-maker in the middle of the field," Boone said. "It's fun to watch him go play out there and how free and easy he plays it, yet how fundamentally sound he is and athletic. ...I thought he had some decent at-bats. Especially his first at-bat of the season for him, I think was around an 8-10 pitch at-bat where I thought he battled and ends up striking out. Overall a good debut for him."

Bader said there was never any pressure from the Yankees, who optioned Franchy Cordero to Triple-A Scanton/Wilkes-Barre to clear a roster spot, to return quickly and he didn’t want to rush his rehab either.

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“I know what I have to feel to be effective for this team, to help them win,” Bader said. “That doesn’t involve pushing the timeline up in any way. It was a mutual decision, and obviously precautionary measures were taken at all times to make sure we can get back to the point where we’re not prolonging the rehab process.”

Bader in seven rehab games with Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was just 3-for-25, but he said he felt good at the plate. Boone said the reports were that Bader was hitting the ball hard, even if the results weren’t there.

Still, the Yankees could use some results.

They’re a depleted team right now, but they got at least one reinforcement back on Tuesday.

“With what we’ve gone through it is nice to get somebody back in the mix and somebody that we were counting on a lot too,” Boone said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Harrison Bader back from injury, hopes to jumpstart Yankees