NEW YORK – The Yankees were filtering onto the field for batting practice on Tuesday afternoon, but their most important development was transpiring about a hundred feet from home plate, down the dugout stairs.
“Judgie’s hitting down there right now,” manager Aaron Boone reported, nodding toward the indoor cages. “He looks good.”
With each swing, Aaron Judge is getting closer to covering the ground between the cages and the batter’s box. The captain took swings against overhand pitching on Tuesday, the first time he has done so as he continues to test his healing right rib.
Judge has been throwing at distances of 100 feet, and he also ran in the Yankee Stadium outfield on Tuesday, performing the latter task while Clarke Schmidt faced hitters in a live batting practice session. Previously, Judge had been performing tee-and-toss drills.
“He’s been shagging [fly balls] just to kind of get the body used to being out there in the field and stuff, so he’s doing pretty well,” Boone said.
The Yankees have not provided a firm timeline for Judge’s next steps. But typically, overhand batting practice would be followed by at-bats against velocity off a traditional machine or the high-tech Trajekt.
Then Judge would advance to live batting practice as a precursor to game action, with a likely Minor League rehab stint coming ahead of big league games.
“He’s got a calendar of what they’re doing, but you make adjustments to that as you go,” Boone said. “They’re definitely mapping things out, but as you go, you check some boxes and move on. Sometimes that progress speeds up a little bit. Sometimes you take a step back.”
The Yankees might have been able to accelerate Judge’s return somewhat if he did not need to play the field.
But Boone said that given the Yankees’ roster construction – he mentioned Luis García Jr., Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt – they are counting on Judge to contribute in right field as well as at the plate.
“I’m not saying there won’t be a DH day in there, but my plan is to have him play in the field,” Boone said.
One day after Max Fried tossed 60 pitches over four innings of live batting practice, potentially setting up a Saturday return to the rotation, Schmidt faced bench coach Brad Ausmus and bullpen catcher Rainiero Coa.
Schmidt is expected to begin a Minor League rehab assignment later this week as he begins preparing to return as a reliever. Schmidt is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last July.
“Whether it’s one inning, five pitches, 30 pitches, I just want to get back out there and compete,” Schmidt said. “Given the time, it’s not like I’m saying, ‘I should be starting,’ banging on the table. I know it’s unrealistic to get 65, 75 pitches.
“If I was to go out in the starting role, I would just be hurting the bullpen at this point. Like I said, I’m excited to compete. I just want to get back out on the mound and pitch a little bit this year, and get ready for a full season next year.”
Matt Blake, the Yankees’ pitching coach, said that Schmidt’s fastball showed life and that he threw some good curveballs. Schmidt’s fastball has been clocked around 94-95 mph, and Schmidt said his stuff is “starting to get better each time out.”
“He’s been a really good starter in this league,” Boone said. “Obviously he’s not going to get back to that point this year. But when he’s on his game, he’s got a lot of weapons that could really land him a role down there – whether it’s an inning, a couple innings, whatever it may be, I think he could definitely help us.”