Yankees activate OF Harrison Bader (strained oblique) off IL

New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader was reinstated from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

The move comes one day after the Yankees placed reigning American League MVP and fellow outfielder Aaron Judge on the injured list because of an ailing hip.

"I'm just really excited to be back -- there's always a job to be done," Bader said.

Bader, 28, began the season on the IL while nursing a strained left oblique. He was injured during an at-bat in spring training on March 8 against his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

"I think the biggest thing for him, really, over the last, even going back before the rehab in three, four weeks, is that he's felt really good," manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday. "It's just like getting over those final hurdles, which are almost mental hurdles when you're coming back. From a confidence standpoint, he's been there for several days now."

Bader was acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline last summer after struggling with plantar fasciitis in 2022. He played in 14 regular-season games with the Yankees, reaching base 12 times with 10 hits in 46 at-bats.

A Gold Glove recipient in 2021, Bader is a career .245 hitter with 52 homers and 177 RBIs in 537 games with the Cardinals and Yankees.

The Yankees also optioned infielder/outfielder Franchy Cordero to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following their 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.

New York has lost four straight and seven of its past nine, but Bader said the team's woes did not speed up his return.

"That can never be a part of the equation," Bader said. "It's easy to kind of fall into that, but there's never any pressure from the Yankees on their side to push anything along. And the same on my side. 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. So it was a mutual decision, and obviously precautionary measures were taken at all times to make sure that we can get back to a point where we're not prolonging the rehab process."

Information from ESPN's Joon Lee and Reuters was used in this report.