The New York Yankees have activated Aaron Judge, and he is expected to be in the starting lineup tonight against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Judge has been sidelined since April 20th with what the Yankees have described as a significant strain of his left oblique. Pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. was sent down to triple-A to make room for Judge.
Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees returned OF Aaron Judge from rehab and reinstated him from the 10-day IL.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 21, 2019
Aaron Judge Returns to the Lineup
All Rise
Judge has been tabbed as the new face of the franchise and his leadership qualities have been compared to former Yankee captain Derek Jeter. It is always good to have that kind of personality back in the clubhouse. But a healthy Judge is one hell of a baseball player and certainly one of the favorites of the Yankees fan base.
Judge has played in only 20 games this season with five HRs and eleven RBI’s. After a 2017 season where he slugged 52 HR’s and drove in 114 runs, Judge has had two straight seasons where injuries have derailed him. Last season Judge was limited to 112 games due to a fractured ulnar styloid bone in his right wrist after getting hit with by a fastball thrown by Kansas City Royals pitcher Jakob Junis.
Despite the injury, Judge finished the season with 27 HRs and 67 RBI. Judge also hit three HRs in 5 playoff games. In addition to his offensive skills, Judge is a gold glove right fielder with a cannon for a right arm. The only knock on Judge’s game is his very high strikeout total. in 314 games played Judge has 428 strikeouts which are an average on more than one per game.
The Yankee Lineup
The Yankees were able to overcome not just Judge’s injury but multiple players being out of the lineup to surge into first place in the American League East. Judge will regain his starting right field position and most likely return to the second slot in the batting order. However, due to the overall depth the Yankees have now with the trade for Edwin Encarnacion and the surprising production from Cameron Maybin this allows Judge to be eased into the rigors of playing every day.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone certainly has an embarrassment of riches on his hands where he can rest Judge regularly as well as other players such as Giancarlo Stanton who also has returned from an injury this past week. Catcher Gary Sanchez also can be kept fresher as the Summer months are beginning.
In fact, Boone has so many talented players and with the Yankees in first place by more than four games he can get everyone enough rest and make sure a simple muscle strain does not get serious. Still, it would be smart for the Yankees to keep an eye on all the players returning from injuries to ensure they don’t have another injury.
Yankees Outlook With Aaron Judge
Offensively the Yankees are absolutely loaded. When the Yankees play their best nine players it definitely is the best in all of baseball and maybe of the last 50 years. Boone just needs to keep everyone fresh.
If the Yankees need to do anything its address the starting pitching. They will be in the market for a top starting pitcher and maybe another arm for the bullpen. Or perhaps they will just outslug teams in the playoffs and with this lineup now healthy they just might be able to do it.
The skies are shining brightly for the Yankees if they can keep everyone healthy.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
