Earlier this week, Aaron Boone said that Aaron Judge’s return to right field could pop up “out of the blue.”
Lo and behold, the letters “RF” were written next to Judge’s name without prior warning when the Yankees unveiled their Friday night lineup for a highly-anticipated series-opener against the Blue Jays. Judge last played defense on July 25, as he had been restricted to DH duties since returning from a right flexor strain on Aug. 5.
Judge had simultaneously been slowly working through a throwing program since coming off the injured list.
“I’m excited to get him back out there,” Boone said Friday, noting Judge restores some athleticism to the Yankees’ outfield. “Hopefully it goes well and he continues to build up as we go.
“Hopefully it’s something that brings us a spark.”
Boone said that the decision to put Judge back in right field followed a few good days of work, as well as conversations with the captain and team trainers. However, Boone doesn’t plan on Judge playing right every day “initially.”
Asked what the plan is for Judge’s outfield usage, Boone said, “We’ll see how Aaron responds day in and day out coming out of these games.”
The manager added that Judge will share outfield starts with Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton, exclusively a DH in 2024, began playing defense again while Judge was restricted to DH duties over the past month.
A few other questions about Judge didn’t get concrete answers on Friday, though that’s been par for the course since his throwing program began.
When asked if Judge will have any restrictions throwing-wise, Boone said, “We’ll see.”
When asked if Judge was able to let it rip during his throwing program, Boone offered an indirect, “We’re ready to go with him in play.”
Throughout the course of his throwing program, Judge rarely appeared to approach max effort when throwing in front of reporters, though media members didn’t see all of his sessions.
On Thursday in Houston, Judge made a handful of throws from right field to home plate. He mostly hit a cutoff man.
Back on Aug. 19, Boone told WFAN that he didn’t think Judge would throw “normally” for the rest of the season. However, he walked that back when he spoke to reporters later that day in Tampa, calling his radio comment overstated.
Minutes later, Judge, never eager to discuss his injuries, took issue with Boone’s WFAN quote.
“I don’t know why he said that,” Judge said. “He hasn’t seen me throw for the past two weeks, so I’m pretty confident I’ll get back to [100 percent].”
Volpe Sits
Anthony Volpe was not in the lineup for the Yankees’ opener against the Blue Jays. Instead, José Caballero started at shortstop.
Boone said that the Yankees’ travel plans — they returned from Houston early Friday morning — and Volpe’s numbers against Toronto starter Kevin Gausman factored into the decision. Volpe is 3-for-24 with 10 strikeouts against Gausman in his career.
Volpe is also coming off a bad series against the Astros, and he entered Friday’s game 3-for-18 with eight strikeouts over his last five contests. Volpe was also 15-for-100 (.150) with a .469 OPS since recording a four-hit game on Aug. 1.
Slater Returns
The Yankees improved their bench Friday, as outfielder Austin Slater returned from a hamstring injury. Catcher J.C. Escarra was optioned to Triple-A on Thursday to make room for Slater.
Acquired from the White Sox prior to the trade deadline, the Yankees got Slater because he is a “lefty killer,” as Boone put it. The right-handed swinger entered Friday with an .814 OPS against lefties this season and a .795 mark for his career.
Jays Shuffle Rotation
With Gausman starting for Toronto on Friday, Max Scherzer was supposed to start on Saturday, while Chris Bassitt was supposed to start on Sunday.
However, the Blue Jays decided to flip-flop Scherzer and Bassitt, giving the former an extra day of rest following some back tightness.
