ST. PETERSBURG -- Dressed in workout gear, Aaron Judge turned a corner at Tropicana Field on Friday afternoon, acknowledging his arriving Yankees teammates. The captain’s workday was already hours deep, and the slogan imprinted across his T-shirt said plenty: “No time like October.”
Judge has made his position clear -- he wants to be part of everything that transpires this month, starting with Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Saturday. However, Judge’s strained right calf has not healed enough to warrant his inclusion on the 26-man roster for the Yankees' showdown against the Rays.
He is eligible to be added to the roster for a potential AL Championship Series, should the Yankees advance.
Judge was not active for the AL Wild Card Series against the Red Sox, still recovering from a moderate strain of the soleus muscle in his right calf that he sustained on Sept. 16. Typically, that sort of injury requires at least three weeks for a full recovery.
The three-time AL MVP was doing everything that he could to beat that timeline.
“Saturday is a long ways away,” Judge said after the Game 2 victory over Boston. “I’m doing everything I can -- all morning, night, during the game, everything -- to prepare myself to be ready to go. Yeah, I want to be in there. But we’ll see what happens.”
Having received a platelet-poor plasma (PPP) injection in late September, Judge had four plate appearances in live BP at Yankee Stadium on Monday, then traveled to the home of the Double-A Somerset Patriots to take additional at-bats on Wednesday.
He did more hitting on Thursday in New York, then participated in an early workout on Friday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla.
The Yankees have been cautious with Judge’s running progression, fearful of aggravating the strain. After several days on an anti-gravity treadmill, he progressed to running in right field before Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.
Manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s workout that Judge has not yet run the bases, but he suggested he may not need to before being activated, saying that some of that running work could be performed under simulated conditions.
Judge, 34, missed 84 games earlier this season with a fractured right rib before returning on Sept. 8. He played seven games before straining his calf on Sept. 16 at Target Field against the Twins.
Overall, he batted .241/.360/.511 with 18 home runs and an .871 OPS in 66 regular-season games.
Giancarlo Stanton, who missed most of the season due to several calf injuries but was active for the Wild Card Series, is active for the ALDS. Stanton said the biggest challenge in returning to action after a lengthy layoff is adjusting to velocity.
“You see as much velocity as you can,” Stanton said. “Just try to visualize stuff out there and be ready for the moment.”
The Yankees carried 10 pitchers and 16 position players for the Wild Card round; they opted for an 11-man pitching staff in the ALDS, adding left-hander Ryan Weathers and leaving off infielder/outfielder Amed Rosario.
With several other DH options already on board, including Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt, Judge’s return would have complicated that rotation. It’s also unlikely that the Yankees could have carried both Judge and Stanton, given their limitations.