Aaron Judge made his return to the Yankees on Friday, but he’s still not all the way back.
Judge entered the Yankees’ 11-0 win over the Blue Jays to play right field in the top of the eighth and received a loud ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd, which quickly erupted in a chant of “Aaron Judge.” Judge didn’t have any balls hit in his direction in his two innings in the field.
The right fielder, out since suffering a chip fracture in his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch on July 26, was activated from the disabled list, but he will only be used on defense and as a pinch runner for now, according to Aaron Boone.
“The way it played out, it was almost a perfect scenario,’’ Boone said. “I was holding my breath just to do it.”
Boone insisted Judge is not at risk of making the injury worse, but didn’t want any drama in his first game back — nor did Judge.
“I was nervous out there just standing in the outfield,’’ Judge said. “Just getting those jitters out of the way now is good.”
Judge won’t hit until he gets more at-bats, both in batting practice and in a possible simulated game next week. He said he needed to “check all the boxes” before he returns, but Boone said it was possible Judge would be back as a full-time player before the end of this nine-game homestand.
The Yankees need him to be one of the game’s best hitters, and they are confident he’s approaching being healthy enough to prove that’s still the case.
“He’s getting real close to being an option for us,’’ Boone said. “We’ll see how this weekend unfolds as far as our plan is.”
With fewer than three weeks remaining until an almost certain wild-card game, Judge is running out of time to not only get back on the field as a productive player, but also to regain the form he has had for much of the last two seasons.
“Hopefully getting him enough at-bats where he can knock off some of that rust and hopefully that timing comes back sooner rather than later and he gets in a comfortable place as we head into the final week and into October,” Boone said.
Boone said the team would formulate a plan this weekend about when Judge might face pitchers in a simulated game. After taking live batting practice in Minnesota, he did so again Friday.
“Right now, I think it’s just building up stamina and building up the reps he’s able to do,’’ the manager said. “Because if anyone’s watched him take BP, it’s pretty electric. It’s coming off [the bat] like Aaron Judge.”
But Boone also said he knows that most of the second half has taken its toll.
“It’s been a couple months almost and he hasn’t swung the bat [in a game],’’ Boone said. “So it’s getting repeated reps to build up volume. He’ll start to really see some velocity then get some pitchers to throw to him and then we go.”
His teammates are eager to see him.
“I’m looking forward to it,’’ Andrew McCutchen said. “I’ve seen what he’s done. … I finally got to watch him take batting practice and I saw some pretty impressive stuff. I know people here all year, to them it’s probably normal. It’s not normal.”
