The Yankees activated INF Gleyber Torres from the IL prior to Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.
To make room on the roster, New York optioned OF Estevan Florial to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“I’ll probably ease him in a bit, give him a day here and there as we build him up,” Aaron Boone said pregame Friday. “But I know he’s been chomping at the bit for the better part of a week to get back in.
“…He’s excited and ready to go and hopefully he’ll come in and he can pick up where he left off.”
Torres, who has been dealing with a left thumb injury, last played in the majors on Aug. 8.
He had been on a rehab assignment in Triple-A and left Thursday’s game after getting hit in the left hand by a pitch.
Torres has struggled this season, slashing just .253/.328/.351 with just six home runs in 99 games.
He has also been poor defensively, committing 14 errors at shortstop while being worth -8 DRS.
“Gleyber’s shown that the more that’s on the line, usually he’s been a little bit better of a player,” Boone added. “Obviously, we’re at a critical time in the season, entering the final month of games here of the regular season.
“…He’s had some ups and downs this year, so I think eventually he was going to find a stretch where he’s playing really good baseball, and I felt like he was doing that really in the weeks ahead of going on the IL.”
Since bursting on the scene in 2018 and establishing himself as one of the best young players in the game in 2019, Torres has hit just .251/.336/.356 with nine homers in 141 games over his last two seasons.
