Brett Gardner, along with a lot of the league this year, is having a big power season. The Yankees outfielder has 27 home runs, which tops his career-high of 21 homers in a single season. The 36-year-old veteran is performing at a high level as the Bronx Bombers head into the postseason.
"A little bit of a different approach, a little bit of different mechanics at the plate, trying to not necessarily get the ball in the air more often, but really trying to stay behind the baseball and drive the ball. So often early in my career I was taught to stay inside of the ball, hit the ball the other way and on the ground and use my legs to get on base, but obviously as the game changes so do we as players. I have to learn to use the whole field and be able to hit the fastball inside," Gardner told WFAN's Mike Francesa on Wednesday.
Gardner has done well this year, but did not expect to play as many games as he has.
"I probably played in a few more games this year than everybody was expecting," Gardner said. "I was obviously up for the challenge. Any time you have your brothers go down and get hurt, you hurt for them, but obviously you have to step up and take advantage of that opportunity and just continue to take care of myself and go out there every day and help the guys out on the field and it's been a fun year."
What did Gardner expect his role to be coming into the season?
"I guess in a perfect world with Judge, Stanton and Hicks all staying healthy, I was going to be hopefully a little more than a fourth outfielder, but that was going to give them some DH days and play some left field, play some center field a couple of days a week each, and continue to keep guys healthy and give guys a rest. Obviously it never usually plays out how you plan. I'm just glad that I was prepared as always to be an everyday player and been up for the challenge. I still feel great with the end of September rolling around. I'm excited about what October has in store," the veteran outfielder said.
The Yankees will finish the regular season as the AL East camps, a 100-plus game winner and right there with the Astros as the best team in the American League. It's hard not to think Aaron Boone's squad has a good chance to win a World Series.
"I love our chances," Gardner told Francesa. "We have obviously dealt with a whole lot of adversity and had a whole lot of injuries hit us, but for the most part we have played pretty good baseball. I think that we're a team that could be built on the postseason and hopefully we get Edwin back here pretty soon. We just got Stanton back a few days ago. Hopefully we'll be a little up to more full speed next week and we're obviously looking forward to it."
The Yankees are still fighting for the best record in the AL to secure home-field throughout the playoffs. Gardner should be an important piece for them in the postseason.
You can hear the entire interview with Francesa and Gardner in the audio player above.
