TAMPA — In a rare moment of levity, Aaron Judge saw the upside of Major League Baseball delaying the start of its season due to coronavirus.
“For me, I wouldn’t mind a couple more weeks to recover,” the Yankees’ rightfielder joked Thursday morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field, before making clear, “I don’t want the season to be delayed.”
It was later announced that MLB would push back the season at least two weeks and re-evaluate its options.
Judge did report, however, that he has registered a good six days since he and the Yankees finally learned the cause of his right chest discomfort. The stress fracture in his top right rib feels better, he said, and he hopes that a CT scan next week further diminishes the threat of surgery to remove the rib and permits him to move forward.
“I’m feeling great,” Judge said. “We’re progressing really well. I feel like I might be ahead of schedule. I don’t know what the schedule is, but I feel like I’m kind of pushing their timeline as much as I can. We’re going to start ramping up things here, and hopefully I’m trying to get this CT scan done as soon as I can.”
The Yankees initially said on March 6 that they wanted Judge to rest the rib for two weeks, so the test would take place on March 20. Judge said that since his diagnosis, which kept him away from swinging a bat or lifting anything over his head, he has spent time working in the weight room and training room, “Back and forth all day.”
Asked to provide an ideal return date, Judge said, “Ideal is Opening Day (which was scheduled for March 26), but based off of having to wait a couple of weeks for the CT scan and possibly another week or two letting it completely heal — middle, end of April. May. I’m not too sure.
“I really don’t want to put myself in a box and say, ‘Hey, middle of April,’ and then I’m answering questions on April 15: ‘Hey, why aren’t you in there?’ Know what I’m saying? We’ll see.
“But I’m trying to push the timeline. I want to come back healthy and strong. I don’t want to come back and rush it and not be ready for games in October and the rest of the season. But I want to be smart about it and get back to my team when I can.”
Zack Britton, meanwhile, reported to camp a day after he suffered a significant scare by taking an Erik Kratz comebacker to his right wrist. Tests revealed it was only a bruise, and Britton said he underwent treatment on Thursday and would have been in line to pitch in Saturday’s game under normal circumstances.
“In the game, I think you’re more on guard for (a comebacker),” Britton said. “I normally put (a protective) L-screen out there and I didn’t (Wednesday), so it was kind of karma. You’re just not ready for it when you’re facing your own guys and, I don’t want to say going through the motions, but to an extent. I definitely wasn’t ready for it. But I got lucky.”
