PHOENIX — Aaron Judge already was running out of time to nail down his timing before the playoffs began.
Now, a tight lower right leg threatens to disrupt that further, if not have more serious ramifications for his availability down the road.
For now, the Yankees were hoping Thursday’s off day, during which Judge was expected to receive more treatment on his leg, would be well-timed.
His status beyond that, though, was still a question mark as they entered Friday’s series opener against the Diamondbacks.
That the next three games are on turf is not ideal, given that the Yankees are often cautious using players who are dealing with any kind of soft-tissue leg injury on the artificial surface.
It is possible the Yankees use the weekend to make sure Judge gets healthy before deploying him for Tuesday’s showdown against the Rays, who now lead the American League East by five games with 10 to play.
While this weekend’s games are important in that race, the Yankees much rather would ensure Judge is ready for the playoffs instead of potentially making the injury worse by playing him in hopes of chasing down the Rays for the division.
In a hint of potential good news — or perhaps just avoiding the worst-case scenario — both Jasson Domínguez and Max Schuemann were in the lineup Thursday night at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, suggesting the Yankees at least were not immediately calling up an injury replacement for Judge, though that does not preclude them from doing so in the coming days.
But if the Yankees believe Judge has a chance to play again before the regular season is over, it is unlikely he will go back on the injured list because doing so would keep him out through Game 161.
So if they have to play a man short over the next few days, they will, especially with rosters already expanded.
Before leaving Wednesday’s game against the Twins in the sixth inning, Judge was batting only 4-for-23 (.174) with a .513 OPS and one home run in his first seven games back from missing three-plus months with a right rib stress fracture.
After the Yankees had eased him back in, he essentially was expected to be a full go starting Friday, meaning plenty of consistent at-bats to get locked in, at least until the leg tightness popped up.
“I feel like you deal with this every spring training,” Judge said Wednesday. “Usually start of the season once you start ramping up again, things pop up and that’s where we’ve been — thankfully this whole time coming back, nothing’s really nagged us. So hopefully, it’s just one little thing and we’re back out there soon.”
