The captain is back.
After spending the last three-plus months on the injured list with a right rib stress fracture, and racing the regular-season clock to get healthy, Aaron Judge will return to the Yankees lineup on Tuesday night in The Bronx against the Rockies, the team announced Monday night.
The back-to-back AL MVP rejoins a Yankees club that is four games back of the Rays for the division with 19 games to play – and only two games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card – but survived his absence, going 45-39 while he was gone despite having to deal with other injuries during that span.
“Best player in the world,” manager Aaron Boone said over the weekend. “I think it would give us a lot of balance, too, to give us that right-handed hitter. On the days we’re facing a righty, where we got all our lefties, to have a right-handed hitter in that two-three hole, I think goes a long way. Not only potentially having his production back in there, but hopefully putting the other guys in a better spot, too.”
Judge successfully petitioned his way out of having to go on a rehab assignment before being activated, though the Yankees may ease him in over the next few days as he finishes off his buildup.
That could mean a day off after his first game, playing five to seven innings in the field and/or DH days involved. He was expected to face live pitching on Monday at Yankee Stadium for the first time in his ramp-up, after going with the Yankees on their West Coast trip and hitting batting practice on the field and high-velocity pitching machines indoors.
The last game Judge played was May 31, when the Yankees beat the Athletics to improve to 36-23. They started 10-5 without him before sputtering during a 4-14 stretch into July. But they began to break out of the malaise from there, even without scoring much, as they leaned on the strength of their pitching staff to weather the storm.
During that time, they have also withstood injuries to Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham (twice), Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Ryan Weathers and more, plus multiple setbacks for Giancarlo Stanton that have kept him out since late April.
