Aaron Judge is putting his calf where his mouth is.
After reiterating his intention to make himself available for the AL wild-card series, less than two weeks after suffering a moderate calf strain, Judge is scheduled to take live batting practice Monday at Yankee Stadium as he tries to convince Yankees brass to include him on the roster on the eve of their showdown with the Red Sox.
“I’ve been doing a lot of convincing, so I’m going to keep doing that,” Judge said with a grin at his locker before the live session. “But I think the most important thing is making sure I’m healthy and ready to go for this long stretch. We got another month of baseball to play, so I want to be ready for the long run we’re going to go on for this next month. We’re all going to be smart, but I think they all know I want to be out there, especially in the first game.”
The three-time MVP said he has still not run the bases, which is always a key hurdle for players to clear coming back from soft-tissue leg injuries, but indicated he has been running on an anti-gravity treadmill and left open the possibility that he could try running on the field later Monday.
While Judge’s live batting practice session should give the Yankees some important information as to how he looks and feels, they will have to weigh whether it is worth the risk of playing him this soon and leaving himself open to reinjury or suffering something worse. The soleus muscle, which is the part of the calf where Judge’s strain is located, is connected to the Achilles tendon.
“Guys take risks every single day,” Judge said. “I know a lot of guys in here are banged up and dealing with stuff. I understand the risk, I’ve got it all.”
Aaron Boone indicated that Judge resumed hitting indoors on Sunday, though the captain later said he has been hitting “for a while.”
“It feels great, which is definitely a big step forward, because you produce a lot of weight on that back leg, so feeling good there,” Judge said.
Once again, Judge added that he hopes to come back as a right fielder because it would help the Yankees the most, given that they already have a logjam at DH/first base with Ben Rice, Luis García Jr. and Paul Goldschmidt. But it is questionable whether he would be able to play the field for nine innings without issue, and if he can’t, would the Yankees really be able to carry both him and Giancarlo Stanton – who is trying to come back from three different calf strains that have sidelined him since late April and figures to be available as strictly a pinch hitter – on the same roster?
Judge, who already missed three-plus months of the regular season with a right rib stress fracture, pledged to do everything he could to be ready for Tuesday. Left unsaid: even all of that still might not be enough.
“I think the biggest thing is understanding how short – the time to be a Yankee and play this game of baseball is a very short window,” Judge said. “Ten years have gone by since I debuted out here, so time flies. I just think about that more than thinking about age. I feel like I’ll still be a good baseball player at 45.
“It’s more just your window to play this game is short, so you don’t want to miss an opportunity.”
