Aaron Judge, Yankees happy he's on verge of returning to lineup

The long wait for the return of Aaron Judge seems to be over.

He has been out of the lineup since suffering a strained left oblique April 20, but Judge, who has been rehabbing at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, is expected to be activated off the injured list and return to the Yankees' lineup Friday.

He was back to his usual self, smiling and cracking jokes, in the Yankees' clubhouse Thursday before the start of a four-game series with Houston. "It's great to be back," he said. "It's about time.

“Any time you get back in the game and start moving around and doing what you love, it’s always good,” Judge said. “I’m just glad to be back. Feeling good and let’s get this thing rolling.”

Judge hit his fifth homer and singled on April 20 — giving him a .288 batting average and .925 OPS — as the Yankees won to move to 10-10. They have fared well in the absence of Judge (and numerous other stars), taking a 3 1/2-game lead in the American League East with a 46-27 record entering Thursday.

Judge said he’s eager to reclaim rightfield and be part of a lineup that has received recent upgrades with the returns of Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton and the addition of Edwin Encarnacion.

“This is going to be fun,” said Judge, adding with a smile, “I’m trying to crack this lineup now. I’m not sure where I’m going to fit in.”

Judge suffered the oblique strain while hitting a single to rightfield April 20 and said he was “mad” when he suffered the injury. He believed it was something he could have prevented with proper stretching and wondered if he did something wrong in his warmup. But when he’s back in the lineup, he expects to be at full strength.

“When I get back on the field, I got to play. I’m not going to try to baby it or go at 80 percent,” Judge said. “We’re in the major leagues and I got to be at 100 percent, so I’m going to go out there and play.”

Just the presence of the 6-7, 282-pound outfielder in the clubhouse after the conclusion of his rehab assignment has the team excited.

“It’s really good to have him back,” manager Aaron Boone said. “And can’t wait to get him back in there [Friday].”

Boone, who wouldn’t reveal before Thursday's game what the corresponding move will be once Judge rejoins the 25-man roster, said he won’t push Judge to play too many games in a row, making sure to build in rest days.

“We probably won’t play him four, five, six days in a row right away. We’ll probably build to that,” Boone said. “But yeah, I feel like he’s physically in a really good spot. I feel like he has been for a while and he’s ready to go and he’ll impact us in a big way.”

Judge said he has felt ready to return since he became able to swing a bat but understood the need to take things slowly. Things will speed up quickly now against Houston, which entered Thursday with an AL West-leading 48-27 record.

“I know a lot of fans will come out for this weekend series, so it’s going to be a good atmosphere,” Judge said. “We’re facing pretty good arms, so I’m looking forward to it.”