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Yankees' Judge activated from DL, will only be used for defense and baserunning

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Court is back in session in the Bronx.

The New York Yankees have activated All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge from the disabled list in time for Friday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, some seven weeks after he sustained a chip fracture in his right wrist.

Judge will only be used as a baserunner or defensive replacement, however, as he's not ready to hit in game situations, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

Manager Aaron Boone said the 26-year-old is "probably not" available to pinch hit right now. Since he hasn't faced live pitching in almost two months, the Yankees plan for Judge to get some at-bats in simulated games before he returns to the lineup.

Judge suffered the injury on July 26, when he was hit on the right wrist by a Jakob Junis pitch. His recovery has been slow, and he only began swinging a bat for the first time since landing on the DL 11 days ago.

In 99 games for the Yankees this season, Judge posted a .285/.398/.548 slash line with 26 homers, 20 doubles, 61 RBIs, and six stolen bases. While he doesn't have enough innings to qualify for the league leaderboards because of the injury, his 11 defensive runs saved as a right fielder still rank second at his position, trailing only Mookie Betts.

Although the Yankees continued to play well without Judge's services through August, his return will be a welcome sight for a team that's been struggling of late. The Bronx Bombers have gone just 5-6 in September, and are suddenly in danger of losing home-field advantage in this year's AL wild-card game.

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