Aaron Judge said Thursday that his return to the New York Yankees is moving faster than expected and that he does not intend to spend time on a minor-league rehab assignment. The Yankees captain, who has not played since May 31 because of a stress fracture in his right first rib, said he feels great and is already doing most baseball work except facing the Trajekt machine.
That matters now because Judge has been out for nearly three months, and every step in his recovery changes how the Yankees can plan the stretch ahead. He said he was cleared for limited physical activity on Aug. 6 and has since moved to more work outside and more in the cage, adding that the focus is now on building his volume back up after so much time away.
Judge did not sound interested in easing back through the minors. He said, “Why waste at-bats? Why waste anything down in a minor-league game?” and added that he has been doing this long enough to know what he needs on the field. He also pointed to 2023, when a torn ligament in his right big toe cost him 42 games and he still bypassed a rehab assignment.
That leaves the Yankees with a choice rather than a timetable. Aaron Boone said Judge told him he did not want a rehab stint in the minors, but Boone stopped short of committing to that path, saying, “If and when we get to that point, we’ll work through all that.” He also said, “I don’t worry about that part of it.”
David Lennon wrote that Judge could be on the express track for the Subway Series scheduled for Sept. 11-13, with the Rockies series before that offering a possible earlier runway. That is the window now, not a date on the calendar, and it is the one that will tell the Yankees whether Judge comes back straight from the Bronx or waits for one more step that he clearly does not want to take.
