When Aaron Judge spoke to reporters following the Yankees’ loss to the Red Sox on Saturday, he didn’t have much information when it came to his throwing program.
Asked when the slugger, limited to DH duties since returning from a right flexor strain, might return to right field in a game, Judge deferred to trainers. He offered the same response when asked when he might begin throwing to bases.
Team trainers are not made available to reporters, though.
“That’s tough, then,” said Judge, never eager to talk about his injuries or rehab timelines. He added, “They might have a good schedule for you.”
Less than 24 hours later, Judge began throwing to bases for the first time since his injury. With Yankees outfield coach Luis Rojas hitting fungoes, Judge threw to second base and a cut-off man before Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
“It felt just like playing catch,” Judge said Sunday. “It felt good.”
Meanwhile, Aaron Boone said Judge looked good throwing. However, the manager still didn’t have a target date for Judge’s in-game return to the outfield.
Boone also said it’s too soon to know if Judge will be a full-time outfielder once he gets back out there.
“The bottom line is we want to do this the right way,” Boone said. “As much as he wants to be out there and we want him out there like, we gotta make sure we do everything possible to put ourselves in the best position to not re-injure this.
“We certainly miss him out there. Hopefully we continue to take these steps, and we’ll get him out there at some point.”
Judge graduated to base-throwing despite never throwing hard in front of reporters during the catch play and long toss portion of his throwing program, which has seen him stretch out to 150 feet. He continued to throw lightly on Sunday, though a few tosses came with added velocity.
“I wouldn’t say I was at 100%, but it was higher intensity [than playing catch],” Judge said, adding that he was trying to treat the session like a game so that things don’t speed up on him whenever he defends in a real contest. “It’s just checking a box. If I can play catch at 150 feet, it’s the same thing as me taking a ball and throwing it 150 feet in the direction of a base. So I think it’s just about building it up and seeing what the trainers say here.”
Judge deferred to trainers again when asked how many more times he would have to work on base-throwing before playing the outfield.
Earlier this week, Boone told WFAN that he didn’t expect Judge to throw “normally” again this season. The manager then walked that comment back, saying he may have overstated the situation.
Judge, meanwhile, took issue with the manager’s original assessment on WFAN.
“I don’t know why he said that,” Judge said at the time. “He hasn’t seen me throw for the past two weeks, so I’m pretty confident I’ll get back to [100 percent].”
While the Yankees await Judge’s in-game return to the outfield, the club is hoping to get some more offense out of the MVP candidate’s bat.
Prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox, Judge had hit just .218 over 16 games since coming off the injured list, though he had an .804 OPS to go along with three home runs and seven RBI.
Judge said that he doesn’t feel his flexor strain is impacting him at the plate.
He also said that not being able to play defense has been “brutal,” as he knows he can help the Yankees on both sides of the ball.
Judge declined to say if he’s been telling the team he’s ready to play right, but he also noted, “I think they all know I want to be back out there.”
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