Sanchez’s hot bat set to return today

Gary Sanchez finished up his rehab stint necessitated by a strained right biceps Thursday and is expected to join the Yankees in Chicago for their series opener against the Cubs on Friday.

According to an American League scout in attendance for all three of Sanchez’s games with Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre, the catcher looked good at the plate. “That’s the guy I saw here before he got called up last year,” the scout said. “He looked good.”

General manager Brian Cashman said the plan was for the 24-year-old to be with the team this weekend.

Sanchez tweeted that he was “taking off for Chicago.”

“See you on the field, tomorrow [Friday],” Sanchez wrote.

Sanchez went 2-for-5 against Lehigh Valley with his second double in three games and if he is swinging like he did last summer, when he came to The Bronx and put the Yankees on his back, he’ll make an already solid lineup even more dangerous.

When Sanchez hurt himself on a swing in Baltimore, the Yankees were floundering, off to a 1-4 start and Aaron Judge was still a question mark. The right fielder had just won the job over Aaron Hicks and was 2-for-15 with a double and five strikeouts— hardly showing signs that he was about to take over the sport.

This weekend figures to mark the first time the two sluggers will be in the same lineup, both hitting at a high level. During Sanchez’s outburst last August, Judge quickly fell into a strikeout-filled slump until his season ended in mid-September with an oblique injury.

Jacoby Ellsbury remains dayto-day with a bruised nerve in his left elbow, according to Cashman.

Manager Joe Girardi said throughout the week the team needed to make a decision regarding a disabled list stint for Ellsbury by Friday’s game, the first of five straight at National League ballparks, with the Yankees visiting the Cubs and Reds and not having the DH.

Ellsbury missed Tuesday and Wednesday’s game after crashing into the center-field wall making a catch in Monday’s loss to Toronto.