The New York Yankees begin an important series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. Yankees captain Aaron Judge returns to right field for the first time since suffering a strain in his right elbow flexor. “Aaron Judge will start in right field for the Yankees tonight,” ESPN reported.
A return that was expected but not immediate
Judge has not played in right field since July 25, when he suffered a flexor strain. He returned on August 5. Giancarlo Stanton has been a reliable player in the outfield since the injury, and his offense has been dominant. But putting him back at designated hitter benefits the Yankees’ defense, which has been a problem in recent years.
Judge will be the Yankees’ second baseman and will play right field Friday night against the Blue Jays. This season, his offense has improved greatly in games where he plays right field. In 80 games as a right fielder, he has a .347 batting average and a 1.127 OPS. In 47 games as a designated hitter, he has a .282 batting average and a 1.074 OPS.
The Yankees on the edge
Judge will need to improve his offense for the Yankees to win the division championship. They have not performed well against playoff rivals this season, but they can turn things around this week. They will face the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox after the three-game series against the Blue Jays.
The other notable change in the Yankees’ lineup is at shortstop. Anthony Volpe will be out Friday, giving way to Jose Caballero for the third time this season. It looked like Volpe had broken out of his slump against the White Sox, but he went 1-11 against the Houston Astros. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is in the lineup after leaving Thursday’s game with two bruised knees.
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