Judge placed on IL, Florial promoted
NEW YORK » The Yankees have placed right fielder Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list with a strained left calf just days after the star slugger returned.
Judge was activated Wednesday but aggravated the injury in a game at Atlanta and was removed in the sixth inning. He was added back to the IL on Friday before the opener of a doubleheader against the Mets.
New York promoted top outfield prospect Estevan Florial to be the 29th man, batting the 22-year-old seventh and starting him in center field.
Florial has blazing speed, big power and one of the strongest arms in baseball, but also hasn’t played above Class A, where he hit .237 with eight home runs last year. Florial had been working out at the team’s alternate site in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Third baseman Gio Urshela was also sidelined Friday with a bone spur in his right elbow and is considered day to day. New York also promoted recently acquired shortstop Jordy Mercer from the alternate site and released left-hander Luis Avilán.
Judge has now been sent to the injured list four times in the past three seasons. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was hopeful that Judge wouldn’t miss much more than the 10 days this time but didn’t have a firm timetable.
The 27-year-old Judge is batting .292 with nine home runs, 20 RBIs and a 1.081 OPS in 18 games.
“The way he competes, the way he prepares, the way he goes about playing the is game I have so much respect for, so I just hurt for him,” Boone said.
Judge rejoins a Yankees injured list loaded with AllStars: outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, infielders DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres, and left-handers James Paxton and Zack Britton have all been sent to the IL in the past two weeks.
New York is hoping to get LeMahieu back at some point this weekend.