Yankees' Aaron Judge tests his elbow throwing before the game
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge chats with fans before a game against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. Credit: AP/LM Otero
ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge’s return to the outfield remains an open question.
Judge, who returned from the injured list where he spent 10 days with a flexor strain in his right elbow on Tuesday but only at designated hitter, tested the elbow for the first time since the injury before Wednesday afternoon’s game, playing catch in the outfield with Giancarlo Stanton.
“Felt good to get out there. We’ll see what I can do tomorrow,” said Judge, who again was at DH on Wednesday. “You’ve got a flexor strain. Like a hammy, the first time you run on a hammy it’s going to be sore. But I didn’t feel like I did when I hurt it.”
Judge, who suffered the injury making a throw to the plate July 22 in Toronto and who was put on the IL July 26, played catch at 60 feet for about 10 minutes.
Is the soreness something Judge believes he’ll have to manage the rest of the year?
“I think for a little bit and then eventually it will get better and we’ll be good to go and forget about it in a couple of weeks,” Judge said. “We’ll see. I’ve never had this. Would be easier if I had a quad or a hammy or oblique, I could kind of give you a better estimate of what we’ve got.”
Judge went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his return to the lineup on Tuesday. Because Judge is relegated to DH for the near future, it means no Stanton, who has 10 homers in 37 games, at the position. Not wanting to leave Stanton’s bat on the bench for too long, the Yankees are considering putting the 34-year-old in rightfield as Judge heals. Aaron Boone left open the possibility of Stanton seeing time there, perhaps as early as this weekend when the Yankees return home to face the Astros. Stanton, who started the season on the IL with tennis elbow in both elbows, has done some light pregame work in the outfield a couple of times during this trip. He has not played a game in the outfield in two years.
“I think it’s like any muscle injury,” Judge said about if going back to the field will be a matter of pain tolerance. “You pull a hammy, you have to be smart. You just can’t blow it out. We’ll be smart with it.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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