The New York Yankees welcomed Aaron Judge back into the lineup on Tuesday, but the slugger was apparently ready to go days earlier if needed.
Judge spent the majority of the summer working his way back from a broken rib, finishing up his rehab this week and going back to the No. 3 spot in the lineup on Tuesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed that Judge made a pitch to come back several days earlier, however.
Aaron Judge Wanted to Return Last Week
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, Boone said the team had always aimed for that night to get him back into the lineup. But Judge had other ideas, trying to convince the Yankees manager to put him in the lineup after Trent Grisham was hurt on Friday.
“We had talked about this potentially being in play,” Boone said of Tuesday’s comeback. “He actually appeared at my door in San Diego after [Grisham] got hurt like, ‘I’m ready to go tomorrow.’ ”
Boone said it was still a bit too early for Judge to return, with some final steps of rehab needed before he could be cleared to play again.
“We kind of pushed that away because there were some final boxes we wanted to check,” Boone said of Judge’s request.
Aaron Judge Wanted Earlier Return
Judge told reporters recently that he would have skipped most of the rehab altogether if he could.
“I wanted to be back June 1, but that didn’t happen,” Judge said, via MLB.com. “I’ll leave it up to the manager when he wants to put me in there.”
The Yankees struggled at the plate with Judge out of the lineup, struggling at times with several players falling into cold streaks. As MLB.com noted, the Yankees were 36-23 when Judge last played, but were just 45-39 during the long stretch without him — ranking No. 26 in the league in runs scored during that stretch.
“We’ve had long stretches where the offense has struggled. I think a big part of that is not having your guy,” Boone said. “I also feel like that’s ticked up here in the past couple of weeks, where we’ve really started to play better offensively. We certainly look forward to getting our guy back.”
Judge slowly worked his way back to full baseball activities and joined the team on their West Coast road trip last week. The Yankees slugger said he liked what he saw.
“The guys are rolling, guys are swinging the bat well,” Judge said. “Especially getting a chance to give Spencer [Jones] a little run here in the outfield, which is great. Giving [Heliot] Ramos a chance to get his feet wet in New York a little bit. Whenever [Boone] calls and needs me, I’ll be there.”
Yankees’ Aaron Boone Turns Heads By Revealing Aaron Judge’s Request