NEW YORK -- Despite the uncertainty surrounding Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge’s right rib stress fracture in the early stages, there was never a doubt in manager Aaron Boone’s mind that he would get to pencil his captain’s name back into the lineup before the season ended.
It took a little while -- 100 days, to be exact, since he landed on the injured list -- and a lot of patience, but Boone finally got the chance to slot the three-time American League MVP back into the No. 3 spot for Tuesday’s series opener against the Rockies.
Judge returned to the Yankees’ lineup in their 5-3 win over Colorado, manning right field and situated between Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr., breaking up New York’s logjam of left-handed hitters with arguably the best hitter in baseball. Judge went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and played for six innings in the field.
Judge had a long conversation with Boone on the dugout steps before being lifted for Heliot Ramos in the top of the seventh inning.
“I feel great, I played half a game, so I don’t know what to say about that,” Judge said. “... I respect Boone, so whatever he says, I’m going to do. I’m not happy about it, but that’s where my guy Ramos picked me up and hit a nice little three-run homer to put the game out [of reach].”
In the leadup to his return, Judge was clear about not wanting to go on a rehab assignment with the calendar hitting September and the club in a postseason race in the American League East; New York (82-62) remained four games behind Tampa Bay (86-58). The compromise settled among Judge, Boone, strength and conditioning coach Brett McCabe and the rest of the training staff was to treat the initial series against Colorado like a quasi-rehab assignment, wanting to “build him up smartly.”
“He won’t play the whole game today, even though he wants to,” Boone said pregame. “I’m going to be mindful of that, especially this first week. He’ll probably have one of the days this series off. We’ll adjust each night on what we see.”
“I felt great; I just haven’t been in a live game or seen live pitching in three months, so it’s kind of like the start of the year,” Judge said after the game. “But I've got work to do. Got to improve, and we’ll keep improving as this goes along. Because we've got ballgames to win, that’s the most important thing.”
Though he didn’t have any putouts on Tuesday night, Judge had to range toward his right a couple of times -- on a home run off the bat of Adael Amador in the third inning and a fly ball to right-center by Cole Carrigg in the fourth.
At least in Boone’s eyes, the heightened excitement around Yankee Stadium with Judge’s presence looming as more than a whisper, both in the clubhouse and on the field during batting practice, was quite palpable.
“I think it's real. His presence is very real,” Boone said pregame. “Obviously, you know what he means to those guys, not only as a player but as a person in that room, as a captain -- I think everyone’s excited. … It’s been a long time coming, and I know he’s been champing at the bit here the last few days.”
Judge’s first at-bat in the first inning brought the Yankee Stadium crowd to its feet, and it stayed standing for the entirety of his first plate appearance in more than three months.
What was striking was how quiet the stadium immediately became as the at-bat started, like the entirety of the sold-out crowd of 46,211 was holding its collective breath. (“It reminded me a little bit of in '22, going for 62 [home runs]. But it was kind of quiet when he was pitching, I didn’t like that that much,” Judge said with a chuckle.)
With Cody Bellinger on first base, Judge took two pitches below the zone from starter Gabriel Hughes before fouling off two sliders on the outside part of the plate. He swung through a 93 mph four-seam fastball for strike three.
In the fourth inning, Judge offered at a 2-1 fastball from Hughes -- with a bat speed of 78. 3 mph, which is around his season average of 78.1 mph -- and flied out to center field with an exit velocity of 95.1 mph. Judge struck out looking in his final at-bat in the sixth frame, taking a 94 mph fastball on the inside corner on a 3-2 count.
“I thought he looked really good,” Boone said after the game. “... I thought he looked very, like, ‘Judge-y.’
“Obviously there will be some time getting the timing and rhythm and everything, but I thought he was on pitches tonight for the most part. Just missed that one to right-center, and then got frozen on a 3-2 count, where I felt like he’s, for the most part, making good swing decisions.”
Before Judge was activated on Monday, he went through a full workout at Yankee Stadium, taking multiple at-bats against live pitching and replicating playing defense for a few innings.
As he ramped up strengthening and running, Judge reported that he was not feeling any restrictions in his workouts. It also helps that patience informed the club’s decisions up until the point of Judge’s activation.
When center fielder Trent Grisham reinjured his right hamstring on Friday against the Padres, Judge made it known that he felt ready to return if needed -- “He actually appeared at my door in San Diego … like, ‘Ready to go tomorrow,’” Boone said. But the coaching staff wanted him to check a few more boxes and see a bit more live pitching, with the series against the Rockies already circled as a potential return target.
“The competitor in him wants to be out there, and I get that,” Boone said. “Because he’s done a lot of work to prepare to be ready to play, and I know in his mind he feels he is very much ready to play and go the distance. But it’s my job to be smart here, especially these first several games here.”
For now, the plan is for Judge to play right field -- where he’s sporting -2 outs above average and a -1 fielding run value this season -- when he’s in the lineup, hopefully avoiding the designated hitter role. But since the initial stress fracture occurred on a diving attempt on a pop fly in Houston on April 26, Boone and the Yankees hope that Judge takes care of himself on the defensive side, without sacrificing his capability with the glove.
“I’d like him to be cautious with that stuff, and he will,” Boone said. “Even though he probably got hurt doing something like that [diving catches], if you really watch over the last several years, he’s done a good job of learning to rein it in and not do certain things in certain situations. He is aware of those things, probably even more hyper-aware of it now. …
“You know, the one thing when watching him move out there is, I feel like he’s moving really well. So I expect him to play very well out there.”