For the first time since the Yankees acquired him from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, Harrison Bader has a real target for a return to games.
The center fielder, who has been out since late June with plantar fasciitis, continued his ramp-up on Monday with a pregame workout in the outfield at Yankee Stadium. If he continues to progress as planned this week, he could start a rehab assignment by next Tuesday — if not sooner, according to Boone.
“This will be an important week for him in that he’ll do full pregame outfield work, final running progression, continuing to hit,” Boone said. “If all goes well there, could start a rehab — we have him targeted for the 13th, which is next Tuesday. But we could even move that up if this week continues to look like what we hope.”
Harrison Bader’s rehab stint could begin next Tuesday — if not earlier. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
It’s unclear how many rehab games Bader will need before he is ready to be activated, especially since he has not played since June 26. But Boone believes that Bader will have enough time to be a productive major leaguer before the postseason begins, even if he might only have about the final two weeks of the regular season to play in.
“I think I’ll be 100 percent ready to compete,” Bader said. “Whatever I can squeeze out of that is where I’ll be. Trying to return to a version of myself that I thought I was prior to this injury, it’s not real. It’s in your head and in many ways it holds you back. It’s a clean slate. Go out there and soak up as much as I can and play winning baseball. That’s all that matters.”
The Yankees originally hoped Anthony Rizzo (back) would be able to resume baseball activities on Monday, but instead the first baseman stayed home on doctor’s orders to rest after experiencing headaches over the weekend from the epidural he recently received.
If Rizzo is headache-free on Monday and Tuesday, he could return on Wednesday to begin ramping up again. Boone said he did not expect it to turn into an injured list stint for Rizzo, especially with the Yankees already carrying two extra position players with expanded rosters.
With Rizzo unavailable and DJ LeMahieu (1-for-29 over his last eight games) getting the day off to rest his lingering toe issue, Marwin Gonzalez started at first base for the first time this season. He made an error in the third inning when he dropped a throw from Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
