Every veteran team has their dog days, but most times veterans attempt to put together solid games. Sometimes their efforts don't produce an outcome that is functional for the team and other times games will work in their favor. The Yankees have hit many rough patches during this season, but one athlete who has always found a way to help the team is Brett Gardner. The team's overall slash line of .241/.316/.379 through June 6's game certainly leaves something to be desired. Even with the Bronx Bombers' weak season, they have had their fair share of the spot light because of guys like Gardner.

According to pinstripealley.com, "Gardner, coming off a dismal finish to 2015, has opened the 2016 season with a strong offensive showing. He has hit .268/.397/.411, good for a 139 wRC+, which ranks second on the team to Brian McCann." Along with that he has been actively putting the Yankees in situations where they have runners in scoring position because as we have seen, he has been working the base pads aggressively. From his performances as of late, he is a guy that can carry this team far. When you got a veteran working the the bases, it makes the game work in your favor because it takes pressure off of the pitcher and turns the pressure up high on the opposing team.

Like most of the athletes in the baseball world, Gardner is always looking for ways to stay on top of his game and you can see that in his effort on the field. According to the article, it states, "Brett Gardner hits during the winter at the Charleston Baseball Academy, about 10 minutes away from his South Carolina home." During that time he works on tweaking his swing, so he can keep sharp in big games.This off season, Gardner spent a lot of time working on his bunting skills, too, and he'd like to develop that into a weapon this year. From every Yankee fan's point, when you know a player has a secret weapon, you want to see them use it in tough situations to get the team out of jams.

As he works to develop his 2016 season with the Yankees, Gardner wants to take a different approach to attack the ball. As he states to nydailynews.com,"You can bunt 50 or 100 balls in 15 or 20 minutes, no time. I've been bunting a lot, working on that more and trying to bring that back into my game." Bringing his bunting skills up to the plate will give him a better opportunity to put the ball in play, so that he can at least advance the runners on base. It seems that he has improved his bunting skills, but he says,"Now it's just a matter of being comfortable enough with it not to be scared to do it in a game and have confidence that I'm going to put it where I want it. " With bunting, as long as you put the ball in motion, you must be in motion when the ball connects with your bat because if hesitate the pitcher and fielders can take advantage of the situation.

You also take in speed when you choose to bunt, but Gardy has great speed when it comes to stealing bases. With all the tweaking that Gardner has been doing, he will be a dominant force in the Yankees arsenal, and the Yankees need every bit of dominance because of the injuries they have been enduring.