NEW YORK -- If you thought Aaron Judge, upon his return to the Yankees' lineup Friday from an injured-list stint, was going to ease himself back into playing, think again.
The Yankees right fielder reminded reporters at Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon that he knew how to play at only one speed, and he intended to perform that exact same way once he came back from his two-month layoff because of a left oblique strain.
"When I get back on the field, I got to play," Judge said. "I'm not going to try to baby it or go at 80 percent. We're in the major leagues. I've got to be at 100 percent. So I'm going to go out there and play at 100 percent."
Judge, who went on the IL after he suffered the oblique strain during a swing April 20 against the Kansas City Royals, was added to New York's 25-man active roster ahead of Friday's game against the Houston Astros.
Following the Yankees' 10-6 win over the Astros on Thursday, left-handed reliever Nestor Cortes Jr. was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding roster move to clear space for Judge.
There had been much speculation as to which player the Yankees would remove to add Judge. Veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin had seemed the most likely subtraction, but the 32-year-old performed well in Judge's absence since coming to the Bronx via a late-April trade.
"Like I've been saying, what can I do?" Maybin said when asked how he maintained focus amid the constant rumors of his job security this past week. "Nothing I can do, nothing I can control but my preparation and my effort and how I play.
"I really always focused on controlling what you can control, and that's my preparation, my effort, my energy and everything else will happen how it should happen, and how it shakes out."
Maybin entered Thursday with a .307 average, a career-best .383 on-base percentage, and having hit four home runs in his previous five games. He had an RBI double, struck out twice and recorded six putouts in the field Thursday.
Judge has continued to laud the Bronx Bombers' work since he has been away.
"Guys keep stepping up and doing their job," Judge said, before sarcastically adding: "I'm trying to crack this lineup, I don't know where I'll fit in."
With four home runs in this latest win -- their sixth in a row -- the Yankees have now homered in a league-leading 23 consecutive games. That's two games shy of the 25-game franchise record the 1941 Yankees set.
Judge said he felt as if he had been ready to get back into games about a month ago, when he first started swinging again. The swinging began with tee work, toss work, work off high-velocity pitching machines, and culminated with live at-bats in rehab games at Triple-A this past week.
In six games with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Judge had one home run.
"To see him walk through the doors earlier and walk into the coaches' room, really good obviously to see him, knowing that he feels really good, and knowing what he brings to the [locker] room," Boone said. "So it's good to have him back, and can't wait to get him back [Friday]."
While Boone says he expects Judge to go all out and play at his normally high level, he's also going to be careful early on about not playing the outfielder too many days in a row.
"I expect him to be Aaron Judge," Boone said. "I'll take it slow with him as far as playing a few days, day off, and probably build him up that way. The one thing he hasn't done is played a ton of games.
"I'll want to build him up smartly. So probably won't play him four or five or six days in a row. We'll kind of build to that. But feel like he's physically in a really good spot, and he has been now for a while, and feels ready to go, and I know he'll impact us in a big way."
Through 20 games, Judge batted .288 with five home runs and 11 RBIs before he was injured. He has a rather simple plan to avoid reinjuring himself.
"I'm not worried about it happening again," Judge said. "Got to make sure I'm warm [pregame]. That's the biggest thing, getting warmed up right. Stretch out, get the core working, and then once that's ready to go, just go be an athlete and be ready to play."