“If something happens, and he’s not able to play at all, then it’s a wrap. That’s no disrespect to the other players in that lineup or on that roster. But if he’s not available to play at all in the postseason, the Yankees aren’t going to the World Series,” Robert Flores remarked a week ago. This came around the same time Aaron Judge had started taking indoor batting practice after landing on the IL. And now, with the captain joining the team on their West Coast road trip, Ken Rosenthal has offered some insight into the Yankees’ approach with Judge.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
With Judge’s return impending, the biggest question that remains is how the New York Yankees will bring him back into the fold. The captain has made significant progress over the past three months, and while the club is eager to have him back, the focus on his workload remains sharp.
“Talking to Aaron Boone, he doesn’t sound inclined to play him three innings one night, five innings the next,” the insider revealed on FOX Sports: MLB. “He wants to play Judge as much as he can and maybe give him a day off the game after he plays.”
Judge played his last game on May 31. With the regular season entering its final stretch, the 34-year-old has made his preference clear: he wants to avoid a rehab assignment. He has remained with the team and has just started taking batting practice, and Judge believes being part of the major league roster would be more helpful in allowing him to regain his form.
“I don’t see the point,” Judge said. “Why waste at-bats?”
The Yankees’ biggest gun suffered a stress fracture of the first rib on the right side. Although they had initially put him on a 10-day IL, his recovery took way longer than they expected. The New York side then shifted him to the 60-day IL, and Judge was unable to take part in any kind of baseball activities. He mostly engaged in lower-body and neck exercises.
Judge was recently cleared for outdoor running, and since then, his recovery has been exceptional. The captain also started weight training and full-body exercises. With the imaging coming back positive and Judge feeling great about his physical form, the team had already decided on his return.
Just about a week ago, Rosenthal mentioned that the Yankees might put Judge on the active roster in the second week of September. Judge, on the other hand, said:
“If I tell them I’m ready to go play, I think we’re ready to go play. I’m not a pitcher, I’m a position player. And I can get my reps down here in the cage. I’m in every game. I’m sitting there in the dugout watching every game, feeling the environment, feeling the energy. So I don’t think there’s going to be much of a difference.”
Boone, on the other hand, tried to be cautious with his return, and he said, “If and when we get to that point, we’ll work through all that.”
Rosenthal even mentioned that the upcoming homestand might be Aaron Judge’s first series since his injury, reiterating that “all signs point to him coming back this week in a series at home against the Colorado Rockies.”
It seems that the 8x MLB All-Star might finally skip a rehab assignment, and while the Yankees finalize his return plan, the eagerness to have Judge back on the team continues to grow.
Aaron Judge’s return comes at an intriguing time
“We’re all as eager to have him back now as we were right when he went out. It would mean a lot to us,” Ben Rice, one of the key players from the team, told the YES Network.
It isn’t simply their wish that’s making the captain’s return feel more urgent. The Yankees’ lineup has been struggling since Judge’s injury. They were batting .243 at the time, but they are currently 28th in the league with a .234 batting average. The pitching staff, which has been one of the best in MLB this season, has managed to keep the team afloat.
“I’m mad how long it has taken,” Judge remarked in a different interview. “It is what it is. I wish it was real two months ago, but we’re at this point [now]. We’re getting close. I can’t wait to be back out there.”
The Yankees are currently 9.5 games ahead in the Wild Card race. That adds extra pressure, and the recent setback with Trent Grisham only triggered the urgency further. The center fielder suffered right hamstring discomfort, and the team placed him on the injured list on Saturday. It’s too soon to schedule a return timeline for Grisham, and the Yankees will wait for more insight.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is expected to fire up the offense upon his return. The Yankees have done well during the regular season, and they need their captain to help them make a deep October run. Now, New York can finally see how things unfold once Judge is back in the lineup.