Jacoby Ellsbury is close to returning to the Yankees. (Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees are targeting Friday as the day their leadoff hitter and center fielder Jacob Ellsbury returns to the active roster. Ellsbury sprained his right knee on May 19 when he cleat got caught in the dirt while making a swing in a game against the Washington Nationals.
Ellsbury began a minor league rehab assignment Monday for Class A Tampa, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He’s likely to play in two more rehab games before joining the big league team in New York on Friday. Manager Joe Girardi, though, won’t promise anything.
“The big thing is that he feels that he’s ready,” Girardi said before Monday’s game against the Angels. “He’s going to know better than we are. We could say he needs to play such and such days, and then he’ll say he’s not ready, or he’s ready before, so let’s just get through these three to four days and go from there.”
Ellsbury, in his second season with the Yankees, was off to a solid start before the injury. He was hitting .324 with a .412 on-base percentage, 14 stolen bases and 29 runs scored in 37 games.
The Yankees have gone 19-18 in Ellsbury’s absence, compared to 22-18 when he got hurt. Brett Gardner has done well moving into the leadoff spot, and was named the American League player of the week on Monday for his performance last week.
Fantasy Update: This is good news for fantasy owners considering Ellsbury was having a fine season before he went down. It may take him a while to get his rhythm back, but Ellsbury is a must-start player when he is healthy.
