It sounds like New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is closer to returning to action than he’s been since he first hurt his big right toe.
According to RotoWire Staff and John Healy of Audacy, Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed during Tuesday’s edition of the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast that Judge will face pitches thrown by rehabbing relief pitcher Jonathan Loáisiga at the team’s spring training complex in Florida.
Judge and Loáisiga initially completed a live batting practice session at Yankee Stadium this past Sunday morning.
“I’ll get a report at the end of [Tuesday],” Boone said during the podcast. “Loáisiga is heading [to Tampa] tonight. He’ll throw tomorrow against Judge. … Good thing for Aaron it doesn’t get any tougher than [Loáisiga].”
Boone noted that Judge won’t be able to feature in home games against the New York Mets on Tuesday or Wednesday. However, the skipper didn’t completely close the door on the reigning American League Most Valuable Player serving as a designated hitter in the upcoming series against the first-place Baltimore Orioles that gets underway on Friday or during the three-game tilt versus the second-place Tampa Bay Rays that begins the subsequent Monday.
“We’ll see how these next days go,” Boone added about Judge, “if we’re at a point if [Baltimore or Tampa Bay] is at play or not.”
According to Bryan Hoch of the MLB website, Judge saw 16 total pitches during Sunday’s session. He put none in play, swung and missed once and fouled four off.
Judge last played when he suffered a torn ligament in his big right toe on June 3. Without the 31-year-old, the Yankees had gone 15-22 since the morning of June 4 before they tallied a three-game sweep of the lowly Kansas City Royals over this past weekend.
The 53-47 Bronx Bombers entered Tuesday’s matchup versus the 46-53 Mets trailing the Orioles by nine games in the AL East standings. The Yankees were also two-and-a-half games back of a wild-card playoff spot at that time.
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