TAMPA, Fla. -- Aaron Judge is scheduled to resume his hitting program on Friday, according to manager Aaron Boone, who said that the Yankees slugger is expected to test his sore right shoulder with indoor swings off a tee and soft-toss.

“He threw again today, and it went well,” Boone said. “I think he threw out a little further [distance] today. I feel good about where he’s at.”

Judge has been absent from the batting practice groups during the Yanks’ first three full-squad workouts and is not expected to be ready to play in Saturday’s Grapefruit League exhibition opener against the Blue Jays, though Boone believes Judge will appear in games shortly after that.

The shoulder issue has affected Judge for about two weeks, dating back to his arrival at the Yankees’ Minor League complex. During Thursday’s workout, Judge continued to perform conditioning exercises and participated in outfield drills.

“I’ve been hitting since early November and working out since early November,” Judge said earlier this week. “Once I got down here, hit on the field, hitting outside -- I just felt a little soreness up in the shoulder. Nothing alarming, nothing that I was like, ‘Hey, we need to really check this out.’ We’ve got plenty of time going into Spring Training; let’s take it slow these next couple days, make sure everything’s right, and then kind of go from there.”

Prospect watch
Deivi Garcia, the Yankees’ top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was among the hurlers who shined in live batting practice on the George M. Steinbrenner Field mound on Thursday afternoon. The 20-year-old right-hander faced a group that included Clint Frazier, Chris Gittens, Giancarlo Stanton and Mike Tauchman.

“One of the stories of camp to me is the depth of our pitching,” Boone said. “We're seeing a number of our young arms, and even some veteran arms that we've brought in here, emerge. Guys that you can kind of dream on and get excited about. Deivi is certainly one of those guys. We feel like he’s in a good spot right now.”

Garcia has been listed as a contender for the back end of the rotation, along with Luis Cessa, Michael King, Jonathan Loaisiga and Jordan Montgomery. That group’s chances of heading north could increase depending on what develops with Luis Severino’s right forearm soreness, with the right-hander expected to be evaluated on Friday by team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad.

“That’ll sort itself out in competition in Spring Training,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “We’re going to roll out a five-man rotation, with names to be determined. We want it to be the crew that you expect, but we recognize it’s never always that case. I'm not saying that we’re not going to have Sevy, but I can’t [say] we will yet.”

Up next
The Yankees will hold another full-squad workout on Friday, though Steinbrenner Field will be closed to fans in preparation for Saturday’s opener against Toronto. J.A. Happ is expected to draw the start for that 1:05 p.m. ET contest, which will be broadcast on YES and WFAN.