TAMPA — After using the injured list a whopping 39 times last season, the Yankees altered their strength and conditioning program during the winter hoping to avoid a repeat.
Yet, when the club went through the initial full-squad workout at Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday, Aaron Judge didn’t take batting practice or throw due to a right shoulder issue that surfaced when he arrived in Florida earlier this month.
According to manager Aaron Boone, the Yankees believe the situation is minor and more about using the early part of spring training to make sure Judge is OK. However, the club believed that was the case last spring when Aaron Hicks’ lower-back strain that surfaced in March was expected to be a short-term deal and the center fielder missed the first 40 games of the season.
“It probably started a couple weeks ago, when I first got down here. I’ve been hitting since early November, and working out since early November. Once I got down here, hit on the field, hitting outside I just felt a little soreness up in the shoulder,’’ said Judge, who had surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder following the 2017 season. “Nothing alarming, nothing that I was like, ‘Hey, we need to really check this out.’ So I said, ‘We 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.’ ’’
According to Boone, Judge is being treated conservatively and the right fielder could have his work load elevated. Judge had been hitting at the minor league complex but stopped hitting about a week ago.
“We decided to get out of ahead of it and shut it down for a little bit, some of the real vigorous things like hitting and throwing. We did put him through a battery of tests so he had an MRI and it was kind of what his shoulder has always been. Not much has changed,’’ Boone said. “We don’t think it’s a big issue. But while we have time on our side we want to make sure we are smart and get that out of there completely and then we roll. But he is able to do a lot of things already.’’
Boone said he believed Judge would be ready for Opening Day on March 26, but don’t look for him Saturday at Steinbrenner Field when the Yankees host the Blue Jays in the first exhibition game.
“I don’t anticipate it will delay the start of the season, but he won’t be playing on Feb. 22,’’ Boone said. “Hopefully not much behind that. We will treat it very conservatively.’’
Since playing in 155 games in 2017, when he finished second in the AL MVP race thanks to 52 homers and 114 RBIs, Judge has played in 112 games in 2018 (fractured wrist) and 102 last year (left oblique strain).
