STATEN ISLAND, NY- It didn’t take long for Addison Maruszak to get back into the swing of things. In his return from the DL, the 21 year-old starting shortstop slugged his first career home run and finished a productive two-for-four in the Staten Island Yankees’ 3-1 loss last night to Oneonta at the ball park in St. George.

Despite coming up short in the home ninth striking out swinging with the bases loaded, the University of South Florida product who admires gritty Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis was pleased with the results of his rehab which allowed him to return earlier than anticipated.

“My trainer did a great job getting me back in there,” Maruszak said at his locker while getting ready for a three-game road trip that begins later tonight at Tri-City. “It didn’t take as long as expected because an ACL is a pretty big deal. But my trainer Scuba Steve did a great job rehabbing me.”

Part of that process was getting plenty of practice swings in with all the free time he had.

“I hit in the cage a lot with my coaches. Hawk [Ty Hawkins] did a great job helping me out. It’s a good time to work cause you have nothing better to do.”

Even though he couldn’t get out there and help the team win, Maruszak was still able to find a silver lining.

“It’s hard to just sit there and watch. I had to do that and I learned a lot while on the bench. Just figuring out some things.”

One thing he has grasped about pro ball is that it’s all about making necessary changes in order to take steps forward.

“It’s all about adjustments. Especially at bats after at bats and pitch by pitch. It’s all about adjusting.”

Maruszak gave proper credit for his productive night to a couple of former major leaguers including a former popular Yankee first baseman on those championship teams.

“When I came back today, I talked to a couple of people,” he noted.

“Tino [Martinez] talked to me. My advisor is Reggie Jefferson. He played. They both told me the same thing. Just try to go for the middle of the field. You know. Don’t try to do anything special cause you’ve been hurt. Just get a good swing off and hit it to the middle of the field and let things happen. That was good advice. I’m young and they’ve been there before. So I’m going to listen to everything they have to say.”

Not only did Maruszak pickup a couple of hits lifting his average to .344 (11-for-32 in 10 games) but he also was sharp in the field coming up with the defensive play of the night combining with second base partner David Adams to turn a nifty 6-4-3 double play to end an inning.

“Defense in college was a little bit of a struggle for me but I feel real comfortable right now. Like I said, I got good jumps and I got good luck tonight. That’s pretty much what you need.”

Thus far in the games he and Adams have played together in the infield, they’ve formed a solid chemistry providing the team with good up the middle defense.

“I played against [Adams] in college last year. So I kind of knew what he was all about and everything. And when we got here, he’s just finding out. … Just try to get a bond with him and try to figure out what he’s going to do.”

“It’s all about learning process.”

So far, so good.