Aaron Judge Activated From Injured List After 84 Games Out, Set to Play Tuesday Against Rockies

Aaron Judge is back in pinstripes and back on the active roster.

The New York Yankees reinstated their captain from the 60-day injured list Monday night, according to Field Level Media, clearing the way for Judge to return to the lineup Tuesday when New York opens a three-game home series against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium.

Judge hadn't played since May 31, when a stress fracture in his right first rib forced him out. The injury was initially misdiagnosed as a bone bruise before later scans revealed the full break, Field Level Media reported. Judge has said he believes he suffered the injury on a diving play in Houston on April 26, and that it caused lingering pain in his throwing shoulder.

In all, Judge missed 84 games. He hadn't faced live pitching again until working out at Yankee Stadium on Monday, when the team had no game scheduled, according to MLB.com.

Judge pushed back on the idea of a minor league rehab stint from the start. "I don't see a point. Why waste at-bats?" he told MLB.com. On Aug. 27, he put it more bluntly: "If I tell them I'm ready to go play, I think we're ready to go play. I'm not a pitcher. I'm a position player."

The Yankees agreed, skipping the rehab assignment entirely, according to the Associated Press, as carried by 2news.com. Manager Aaron Boone instead had Judge build up through tee work, soft toss, batting practice on the field during a West Coast trip through Los Angeles and San Diego, and sessions against high-velocity pitching machines. Boone said over the weekend that Judge was "close to the endgame of being ready to play," per MLB.com.

Boone has floated easing Judge in with shortened outings, five to seven innings, or DH duty, rather than a full workload immediately, the New York Post reported.

Before going down, Judge was hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs in 59 games, a .907 OPS by Bleacher Report's count. He'd also snapped an 11-game RBI drought with a walk-off two-run homer against Tampa Bay on May 24, one of his final acts before the injured list.

The Yankees were 36-23 when Judge last played. Without him, they went 45-39, a solid but clearly diminished pace, according to the Associated Press. The offense cratered by the underlying numbers: New York batted .243 with 86 home runs through May 31, then hit just .227 with 107 homers over the 84 games Judge missed. Their team OPS dropped from .770 to .681 in that stretch, ranking 29th in the majors, ahead of only the Seattle Mariners' .225 average, the Associated Press reported.

"We've had long stretches where the offense has struggled. I think a big part of that is not having your guy," Boone said, per MLB.com, while also crediting the club for improved offensive play in the weeks before Judge's activation.

Judge returns with the Yankees at 81-62, four games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East and holding a two-game edge over the Boston Red Sox (80-65) for the top American League wild card spot, with 19 games left in the regular season. New York also holds a season-series tiebreaker over Boston, according to the Associated Press.

To make roster room, the Yankees designated right-handed pitching prospect Chase Hampton for assignment. Hampton went 0-6 with an 8.18 ERA across 17 starts at multiple minor league levels this season, Field Level Media reported.

Boone framed Judge's return as more than just raw production. "I think it would give us a lot of balance, too, to give us that right-handed hitter," he told the New York Post, noting the lineup's current lean toward left-handed bats.

Judge has skipped rehab assignments before, doing the same in 2023 after missing 42 games with a fractured toe. This is now the fourth time in his career he's returned directly to the majors following a significant injury layoff, per the Associated Press.

The open question is how the Yankees manage his workload over the season's final stretch. With the Rays four games up and the Red Sox breathing down New York's neck for the wild card, Boone will have to balance protecting Judge's surgically repaired body against the reality that the Yankees have 19 games to close a gap they built while he was gone.