BALTIMORE -- Aaron Judge is moving closer to reclaiming his spot in the Yankees’ lineup.
The Yankees’ captain has resumed hitting off a tee, according to manager Aaron Boone, who said Judge has done so for the last two days at Yankee Stadium.
“He’s hit off the tee now a couple of times, so he did that today,” Boone said on Thursday. “It seems to be going well. It’ll be good to see him tomorrow when we get home.”
Boone said he did not know when Judge would advance to the next checkpoint in his hitting progression. The Yankees have offered only a vague timeline for his potential return, stating that they expect him to play again this season. At this point, it’s unlikely he would return before September.
This week marked Judge’s first time swinging a bat since May 31, allowing him to recover from a stress fracture in his right first rib.
Limited to lower-body and light resistance training for weeks, Judge has now been cleared to resume playing catch, run outdoors and perform upper-body resistance training.
Judge believes he initially sustained the injury attempting a diving catch on April 26 at Houston. He played through discomfort for more than a month before landing on the injured list following a series against the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif., late in May.
A three-time American League Most Valuable Player, Judge was slashing .248/.375/.533 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs in 59 games at the time of his assignment to the injured list.
Cody Bellinger is set to play in a Minor League rehab game on Thursday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and could be activated this weekend, giving the Yankees another potent bat on the horizon.
The outlook remains murky for Giancarlo Stanton; Boone said there was no more clarity on a potential timeline for Stanton, who has been out since April 24 with a right calf strain.
“He had been [running], I think yesterday or the day before, did more bases,” Boone said. “But nothing new.”