New York Yankees: Is Brett Gardner Finally Coming out of His Awful April Start?

Going into the month of May, the Yankees are in first place of the American League East division and are surprising a lot of people with their strong start.

Mostly because many felt the Boston Red Sox were destined to be the team to run away with the division and right now, they are tied for last place in the division.

While a lot of Yankee players came out of the gate with a solid month, one particular Yankee had a month he wished he could forget.

Brett Gardner at one point during the beginning of the season was hitting .136 for the season.

In a game against the Baltimore Orioles on April 24, Gardner went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, looking as frustrated and confused at the plate as a hitter could be.

Gardner finished the 2010 season with a .277 average last year with 47 stolen bases and an on-base percentage of .383—solid numbers in his first season as a starter.

His stolen bases have been few and far between this year, with only four right now, as he has also been caught stealing four times too.

His steals have been down mainly because his on-base percentage is only at .325 right now, and he has more strikeouts (22) than he does total hits or walks (15 and 12).

Since Easter Sunday, Gardner has been on a steady incline with his average.

Since April 28, Gardner has hit safely in each of the Yankees games, which has seen his average go from .136 to as high as .211.

Now, .211 doesn't seem like much, but a .75 point jump in a batting average is a huge difference for a player.

In Gardner's last 10 games, he's 9-for-24, a .375 average with three home runs, 5 RBI and eight walks.

So now we have to wonder, is Gardner finally figuring it out this season and snapping out of his bad start?

At one point, he didn't even look like a major league batter and some may have felt that Andruw Jones should have been the one starting full-time over Gardner.

But with Gardner's speed and his ability to cover a lot of ground in the outfield, he's hard to keep out of a lineup unless the Yankees are facing a left-handed starter, so Yankees manager Joe Girardi has kept him in the lineup consistently.

Now if Gardner were still hitting below .200, many could have made a case that Gardner needed to be benched because it was like he was almost a guaranteed out or strikeout at the plate.

That doesn't seem to be the case now.

Take a look at Monday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. Gardner went 1-for-1 and walked twice with a run scored.

Not only is Gardner getting hits, but he's also being more patient at the plate and getting on base. At one point, his on-base percentage was at .197 and now it's climbed to .325, which again, is another huge jump.

For the Yankees' sake, they can only hope Gardner can continue having success and carry it over into the month of May and beyond.

When the season began, they experimented with Gardner leading off, which didn't work out the way the Yankees wanted.

Now back at the bottom of the order, that seems to be where Gardner is more suited and if the results are an effect of him hitting there, then Girardi needs to leave Gardner there.

If Gardner can continue to show patience at the plate, it will lead to more hits and more walks. And if Gardner gets on base more, it will also lead to more stolen bases and possibly more runs scored.

Is Gardner coming out of his poor start?

The numbers say he is, but only time will tell if he truly is. Yankees Universe sure hope he is.