ARLINGTON, Texas – Aaron Judge returned to the lineup as a designated hitter for the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, after a 10-day stint on the injured list due to a strain in the flexor tendon of his right elbow. It’s still unclear when the All-Star slugger will return to the outfield. Judge went 0-3, batting third in the 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers. Manager Aaron Boone reported that Judge will begin a throwing program on Wednesday. Boone practically ruled out Judge’s return to the outfield in the coming days.
When asked about the duration of the first launch program, Judge replied: I have no idea. But we’ll see how it goes tomorrow and I hope I can play. Because we need all the big guys in the lineup. Boone indicated that the Major League batting leader returned from a trip to the team’s spring training facilities in Tampa, Florida, ready to bat and test his arm’s capabilities.I don’t want to get ahead of myself. We’ll see how that first day goes. From there, we’ll probably have a better idea after a day or two.
Aaron Boone
Judge played for the first time since July 25, after the strain in his elbow. An MRI revealed no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament and he received a platelet-rich injection on July 27, when he was placed on the injured list retroactive to the previous day. The first time Judge felt pain in his elbow was on July 22 in Toronto, after making a powerful throw home when George Springer hit a single to right field. Judge is batting .339, comfortably leading the majors, is tied for fourth with 37 home runs and is fifth with 85 RBIs. New York has lost five consecutive games, and the Yankees have fallen to third place in the American League East Division, behind Toronto and Boston. They were in first place at the beginning of July, but are six games behind the Blue Jays. They hold the second wild card spot, but are only half a game ahead of the Rangers, who have spent most of the season below .500.I think he’s been pretty optimistic about it. I think he did a lot of things in Tampa. He didn’t throw, but he did a lot of things in preparation for that throwing. So far, so good. So let’s hope that when that throwing program starts, it goes well and he can progress pretty quickly.
Aaron Boone
Judge’s return was part of a series of roster moves, headlined by the Yankees sending reliever Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, just five days after acquiring the right-handed pitcher from Colorado before the trade deadline. Bird allowed seven runs, six earned, in two innings in his first three appearances with the Yankees, capped by Josh Jung’s three-run homer in the tenth inning of the Rangers’ 8-5 victory in the first game of the series.We have work to do. Many things to clean up. But the guys here are eager to change all that and do things right. We have a great team here. There are many mistakes everywhere. Some mental mistakes, some physical mistakes. We have to fix them now.
Aaron Judge
The Yankees placed newly acquired outfielder Austin Slater on the injured list with a left hamstring strain. Slater, traded from the White Sox last week, exited in the second inning on Monday night after running out a fielder’s choice. New York also activated right-handed pitcher Mark Leiter Jr., who has been out for almost a month with a stress fracture in his leg. Right-handed pitcher Yerry De los Santos was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and right-handed pitcher JT Brubaker was designated for assignment. Giancarlo Stanton, who had been the Yankees’ starting designated hitter in their 32 games this season, was displaced by Judge in the lineup. His tenth home run was a two-run shot in Monday’s fourth inning that gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead over the Rangers. He missed the first 70 games of the season due to inflammation in the tendons of both elbows. Stanton was the potential tying run as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, but he hit into a double play, initiated by a diving stop by Texas shortstop Corey Seager. That’s the hard part. G has been in such a good place now for the majority of the time he’s been back. I just feel like he’s putting together really consistent at-bats where he’s a real threat all the time. It’s going to be hard to navigate these early days.I think he had quite a bit of work in the first half, a lot of success. And lately he’s had some problems. We still think very highly of him and believe that he will not only help us this year in the short term, but also in the long term. So let’s hope this gives him a little reset.
Aaron Boone
