The New York Yankees will waste little time in getting Aaron Judge back to action Friday night, batting the slugger in the leadoff spot as he returns to the active roster.
Judge has been out of action since he was placed on the injured list April 21 with a left oblique strain. He had five home runs over his first 73 at-bats of the season, while batting .288.
Judge was officially activated from the IL earlier Friday. He is the second key player to come back from injury this week after Giancarlo Stanton returned Tuesday from a biceps injury.
To open a spot on the active roster, left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. was optioned to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre after earning the victory over the Houston Astros on Thursday with three innings of relief.
Despite a bevy of injuries in the early part of the season, the Yankees entered play Friday with a 47-27 record, putting them in first place in the American League East.
Judge, who has 88 career home runs over 314 games, including 52 homers in 2017, has never started a game in the leadoff spot. A majority of his starts have come in the No. 2 spot (156 games).
--Field Level Media
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