The Yankees had been suffering enough injuries and disappointments in 2023 that a handful of depth players brought in to replace some of the starters had stumbled onto the IL themselves. They get two of those replacements back today, which should hopefully bolster their bench and their often-scuffling lineup as well.
With Anthony Rizzo somehow still homerless since mid-May, the Yankees have had a serious lefty power outage this season. Jake Bauers had at least provided a little balm, batting .224/.312/.470 with 12 doubles, 7 homers, and a 114 wRC+ in 49 games. A veteran of five different organizations prior to joining the Yankees’ Triple-A club midseason last year, the 27-year-old Bauers had altered his mechanics to get off to a scalding-hot start in Scranton prior to his promotion at the end of April, but an errant dive on July 5th led to left rotator cuff inflammation and a brief IL stint.