Aaron Judge is part of the Yankees’ 60-man player pool announced Sunday, but it’s still to be determined if the right fielder will be ready for Opening Day, which is in less than a month.
Judge had been in Tampa and said in an interview with Sports Illustrated published Sunday that he’s been able to “hit a little bit” during MLB’s COVID-19 shutdown.
Judge has been recovering from a fractured rib believed to have been suffered last September. It sidelined him in spring training and general manager Brian Cashman said in May he’d expected Judge to be out until “the summertime.”
Now comes the real test, with players due to report to Spring Training 2.0 (or Summer Camp, as the Yankees are calling it) by Wednesday for three weeks of work before a 60-game schedule is supposed to begin.
“This break has allowed some of the players, including myself, to get healthy,” Judge told SI. “Luckily, I’ve been able to go into our facility in Tampa Bay with five or six teammates to work out, get on the field and run around and hit a little bit. For us, it’s kind of been business as usual and has felt like an extended spring training.”
Aaron Hicks, coming back from offseason Tommy John surgery, could be healthy enough to play, as well.
“I honestly can’t wait to get back out there,” said Judge, who was shown in a picture on Instagram arriving in the New York area on Saturday. “It’s going to be an exciting year. … As a Yankee, we’ve been out there on the field every day staying in shape. I feel like other guys haven’t been as lucky to have access to a field or facility which could post problems. But I think this three-week spring training we are about to have will allow guys to get into game shape soon.”
Judge called some of the new coronavirus rules the league will impose — like a ban on sunflower seeds and high fives — “challenging.”
“Missing out on some sunflower seeds is going to be tough, but I’ll take playing baseball over that aspect any day,’’ Judge said. “It’s time to get things rolling. The fans need baseball back.”
They won’t be in The Bronx, at least at the beginning of the season.
“I’m not sure how long it will be without them, but hopefully New York will see some improvement [with the pandemic], so we can start getting some fans in the stands, even if it’s at 20 percent capacity,” Judge said.