After more than two months of inactivity due to a stress fracture in his right first rib, the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge was cleared to resume light rehab work Wednesday.“I’ll be back this season,” Judge said. “I don’t know why I wouldn’t be. That was always the plan, to come back sooner than later, definitely. I never had a thought of not playing this year.”Even with the encouraging update, though, it’s looking more like later than sooner for Judge’s return to the lineup. Imaging taken Tuesday showed enough improvement for Judge to begin running outdoors and doing upper-body resistance exercises, but he said he is not fully healed.“I’ve got a broken rib; you’re gonna feel it,” Judge said. “But it’s healing up. That’s the progress we want to see so we can start doing some more and kind of testing and seeing where we’re at, because we’re running out of days. We’ve got 52 days left, 53 days left, so we’ve got to get back out there.”The Yankees have not said when they expect Judge to return, though general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Monday he believed there was a “pretty high likelihood” Judge would return this season – and that was before the scan Tuesday.
Judge, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, is hitting .248/.375/.533 with 17 home runs, numbers that were almost certainly impacted by the injury, which he sustained while diving for a ball in Houston on April 26.His recovery has been slow, and a scan in July did not show enough healing to begin ramping up. In that context, Wednesday’s news was at least a first step.Can George Lombard Jr. spark the Yankees' season?Brendan Kuty and Johnny Sweet“He’s just been able to do treatment stuff, movement stuff, bike and things like that,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Now he’s able to start running and introducing things that (he’s) got to build up to, eventually, (start) hitting and throwing.“(It’s) an important part of his progression to get back with us. It’s good to see him with the pinstripes on and cleats and heading out onto the field in the afternoon.”Another All-Star outfielder, Cody Bellinger, went on the injured list July 26 with a hamstring strain that is expected to sideline him four to six weeks. Bellinger took batting practice on the field Wednesday for the first time since the injury.“Hitting’s no problem,” Bellinger said. “Running in a straight line, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m obviously not at full speed, and today was more agility, side by side, that felt pretty good. Nothing’s at full speed yet, but every day’s feeling better for sure.”The Yankees have gone 28-27 since Judge last played, on May 31. They added first baseman Luis García Jr. and left fielder Heliot Ramos at the trading deadline and promoted shortstop George Lombard Jr. on Tuesday.“We got the hitters we wanted, and I think that’s the biggest thing, especially now in the position we’re in,” Judge said. “We’re trying to chase down the Rays and win this division. That’s the most important thing. We played in the wild-card (round) last year, and it’s always a coin flip. You never know what’s going to happen, but our goal is to go out there and win the division and set ourselves up for the best position to go and win a World Series.“So we got us some hitters in the lineup that are going to help us chase that goal down and be in the right position. And you call up a guy like George Lombard, who hopefully is hitting a homer every single night like that, and we’ll win the game. So I like the position we’re in.”
