Yankees Star Aaron Judge Takes First Step Toward Return, Cleared For Light Workouts

Aaron Judge has been cleared to begin light workout activity, and the New York Yankees captain said he will return this season from the rib injury that’s sidelined him since May 31.

“Oh, I’ll be back this season. I don’t know why I wouldn’t be,” the three-time AL MVP said Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. “That was always the plan to come back — sooner than later, definitely. But I never had a thought of not playing this year.”

Judge was on the field in baseball gear Wednesday afternoon, stretching, jogging and doing shuffle slides with a resistance band. He was given the green light to take a step forward in his recovery progression after undergoing his latest scan Tuesday.

“Better news. Healing up. So, you get a chance to progress a little bit, do some running, do some more upper-body stuff, and kind of progress towards getting back out on the field and swinging it,” he said. “I wish it was completely healed and the fracture was gone and start playing tomorrow, but that’s not the case. But, great step forward.”

It will still be a while before Judge is back in the lineup. He must first advance to taking swings, and it remains unclear when that could occur.

“I think that’s going to be the ultimate test, is hitting,” Judge said. “That’s the most violent of it all, I think, more than running or lifting and stuff like that. So, once we keep progressing, everything’s feeling great, then we take another scan, see where it’s at and hopefully add in hitting and throwing and all that down the road.”

Neither he nor Yankees manager Aaron Boone offered a target date for the outfielder’s return.

“I’ve got nothing for you on that yet. I just got the scan yesterday and the minute they said all right, we’re going to start running, I said, ‘OK, I’ll see you outside.’ So, I kind of forced them on that one,” Judge said.

“But, no, hopefully whenever we get a game plan, you guys will be somewhere on the list,” the slugger added, drawing laughs from reporters. “Not the top.”

Judge is on the 60-day injured list with a stress fracture of his right rib. He is hitting .248 with 17 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS this year, but he had just one homer in his last 18 games before going on the IL.

“It was great being on the field, great being back out there,” he said. “I’ve been with the guys as much as I can, especially on the road or here in the dugout. But to actually feel like a little bit of a player felt great.”

Going into Wednesday night’s series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees (64-50) were 28-27 since Judge last played — although their offense has been one of the worst in the majors during that stretch.

New York also has been without designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton since April 25 because of a right calf strain and All-Star left fielder Cody Bellinger since July 26 due to a left hamstring strain.

Looking to boost their lineup, the Yankees acquired first baseman Luis García Jr. and outfielder Heliot Ramos ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. They entered Wednesday night trailing first-place Tampa Bay by four games in the AL East and holding the league’s top wild card.

“I’ve got a broken rib, so you’re going to feel it. But it’s healing up. So that’s the progress we want see so we can start doing some more and kind of testing and see where we’re at,” Judge said. “Because we’re running out of days. I know we’ve got 52 days left, 53 days left, so, got to get back out there.”

Reporting by the Associated Press.