'Ready to roll': Aaron Judge makes long-awaited injury return for Yankees' postseason push
BALTIMORE – Aaron Judge does not yet know what version of himself will take the field. Nor does he yet realize what he’s getting into.
He just wanted to be back as badly as the New York Yankees needed him.
The imperfect slugger – slowed by a torn ligament in his right big toe – and the imperfect team will try to make the best of the final 58 games of this season, with no shortage of uncertainty surrounding both of them.
Friday night, Judge returned to the lineup for the first time in nearly two months, since a crash into a Dodger Stadium fence derailed what was looking like another MVP-caliber season. There will be no back-to-back MVP plaque for Judge.
Instead, he joins a Yankees team technically in last place in the American League East but also one harboring playoff dreams, still. At least for the moment, Judge’s smile belied the uncertainty.
“I just wanted to get back,” Judge said Friday before taking on the first place Baltimore Orioles, who have built an nine-game lead on the Yankees. “Even if we were winning and we had an eight-game lead leading the division, or we were 10 games out of it – I wanted to be back out there and battle with the guys.
“I want to be there when times are tough and I want to be there when we’re rolling, so just had to get right. I think that was the biggest thing. We had to wait for this thing to start the healing process and then now we're ready to roll."
Judge has not played since June 3, when he damaged that Dodger Stadium fence but also his right big toe in catching an eighth-inning fly ball. Only days later did doctors determine Judge had torn a ligament, creating concern not just for his status this season but also his long-term viability.
But Judge’s progression increased after the All-Star break, and he faced live pitching for the first time July 23, while also rehabbing at the team’s Tampa, Florida, facility.
Judge underwent multiple MRIs and the most recent imaging showed sufficient healing that Judge, the Yankees and their medical staff felt no further damage could be done by playing.
He served as designated hitter Friday — he went 0-for-1 and drew three walks in the Yankees' 1-0 loss — but both Judge and manager Aaron Boone said Judge’s return to right field is imminent, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
“We haven't laid out a plan because we want to listen to how his body's responding and how that feedback is,” says Boone. “We’ll kind of walk through that very diligently, smartly here in the first week.”
At 54-49, the Yankees are far from terrible, just middling, certainly moreso without their reigning MVP. Judge still leads their position players in Wins Above Replacement (2.4), despite missing nearly two months. Judge’s 19 homers are still three more than any teammate, and his 1.078 OPS would top Shohei Ohtani’s major league-leading 1.070 mark if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.
Meanwhile, the Yankees rank 23rd in the major leagues in OPS (.706), and 21st in runs scored, and ended Friday in fifth place in the AL wild card standings, 3½ games out of the third and final spot.
Now, a boost to the lineup and a dose of flexibility, once Judge returns to the field and opens up DH for Giancarlo Stanton and others. Judge is far from healed; that won’t happen until sometime in the winter.
But he is here.
“That was always our biggest concern is that I want to come back and make it worse. And that this is something that leads into the next year and the following year. Talking with a couple doctors, the ligament is stable.
“So, we’re in a pretty good spot.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge 'ready to roll' for NY Yankees' playoff push after injury
