Aaron Judge was back in right field Friday night for the first time since he suffered a flexor strain in his right elbow July 25.
The Yankees hope to have Judge there regularly as they enter the stretch run, but even they aren’t sure how it’s going to go.
Prior to the series opener against the Blue Jays in The Bronx, Aaron Boone was asked if he would “hold his breath” the first few times Judge has to unleash it.
“Sure, at first,’’ Boone said. “He’s worked really hard to get to this point. Obviously, we’ll pay very close attention to it [and] pay attention to his recovery.”
And Boone added Judge won’t play the outfield all the time.
“I don’t plan on going every day with him initially,’’ the manager said. “But hopefully he continues to build up and gets to that point.”
That means there will be more Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield, a plan that has gone as well as the Yankees could have hoped since his return to playing defense nearly a month ago.
With Judge in right Friday, Stanton served as the DH after three straight games in left field in Houston.
“[Stanton] putting himself in the mix is, obviously, a big deal,’’ Boone said. “It’s probably some kind of shared situation. We’ll see how Aaron responds from being in these games.”
As to whether Judge would have any restrictions on him in right, Boone said, “We’ll see.”
The truth is, no one can say how this is going to go.
Luis Rojas, who works with the outfielders and has been part of Judge’s rehab process, noted Judge never throws hard in his practice sessions, but that the Yankees were confident he knows his body and what he’s able to do.
Still, Rojas added, “He’s a veteran player and knows himself pretty well. We always trust him. I don’t know if we’re gonna have a 100-mph throw like we’ve seen in the past. But a guy like him, you trust him and he went through his progressions.”
That included Judge making five throws from right field to home plate — three to a cutoff man plus a pair of two-hoppers to the catcher — prior to Thursday’s game in Houston.
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Austin Slater, who returned from a strained left hamstring Friday, suffered a similar elbow flexor strain in mid-August 2020 and was limited to DH duties for the remainder of the season with the Giants.
“Every guy is different,” Slater said Friday of his 2020 injury, which prevented him from playing the field until spring training of the following season. “That’s why there are broad timelines with that [injury]. You don’t know how you’re gonna respond to it and there are different issues that can affect how quickly you come back.”
Slater had his best season at the plate that year, so he said it didn’t impact him offensively.
Judge’s numbers have slipped since he returned from his injured list stint Aug. 5.
He had an OPS of 1.160 prior to the injury and entered Friday with an .888 OPS after coming back.
Some of that could be the natural ups and downs of the season, and Judge previously said the elbow didn’t bother him while hitting.
“I hope it goes well and we’ll continue to build up as we go,’’ Boone said.