Yankees injury update: Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres close to returning

The All-Star break is underway and we’re looking at four days without Yankees baseball (other than a few glimpses of players during the game). The good news is that a couple of Yankees are set to be activated from the disabled list not long after baseball picks up again. Here’s the latest on the players who have been dealing with injuries:

Gary Sanchez

The Yankees catcher has been on the disabled list with a groin strain for the past three weeks. He was slumping badly prior to the injury with just seven hits in the month of June (including two home runs). The team really needs him to get going, so hopefully the rest has done him some good. Sanchez participated in his first rehab game last night, and blasted a home run in Scranton’s win over Rochester. If everything goes according to plan, Sanchez is expected to be activated from the DL prior to Friday’s game versus the Mets.

Gleyber Torres

More good news: The Yankees should have Gleyber back not too long after Sanchez. The young second baseman has been sidelined with a hip strain since July 5th. It’s too bad he will miss out on his first All-Star Game, but he is expected to make it into some rehab games after the All-Star break wraps up. The Yankees anticipate that he will return sometime during the July 23-25th series against the Rays.

Dillon Tate

The right-hander was named to the Eastern League All-Star team, but ended up being unable to participate due to a quad strain. Trenton manager Jay Bell was hopefully that Tate would avoid a stint on the disabled list, but the team did place him on the DL yesterday. Tate, 22, has posted a 3.38 ERA with 8.17 K/9 through 15 starts this season.

Jacoby Ellsbury

Some days it is difficult to remember that Ellsbury is even on the team. He has been injured since spring training when he suffered an oblique strain. Since March he has dealt with a hip ailment, back pain, and plantar fasciitis. Here we are in the middle of July and he still hasn’t resumed baseball activities.

It’s becoming less and less likely that he will join the team this year. Thankfully, the Yankees aren’t missing him anyway.