New York Yankees slugger Luke Voit will begin the season on the injured list due to a partial tear of the meniscus in his left knee.
Voit had an MRI on Friday, manager Aaron Boone said Saturday, and while there was talk of the first baseman playing through the injury, the decision was made to undergo a procedure now.
“In Luke’s case it was kind of a decision between getting it treated and playing through it because functionally he was playing, but was still dealing with some swelling in there after games and things like that,” Boone said. “Felt like calendar-wise it was best to get this over and taken care of and hopefully put it behind him for the bulk of the season.”
Boone said Voit will get his meniscus cleaned up “in the next few days, which will be three weeks of no baseball activity and then ramp up from there.”
The right-handed slugger hit 22 home runs with 52 RBIs in 56 games last season and slashed .277/.338/.610.
Boone also announced Saturday that veteran outfielder Jay Bruce has made the roster.
Signed to a minor-league contract in February, the 33-year-old seized his opportunity to be a left-handed bat in a primarily right-handed lineup.
Bruce hit .198 with six homers and 14 RBIs for Philadelphia in 96 at-bats during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.