OAKLAND, Calif. — It was just one step of many before Aaron Judge could return to the Yankees, but on Wednesday there was finally tangible progress, however small it was.
Judge played catch in the outfield at Oakland Coliseum, his first baseball activity of any kind since spraining his right big toe on June 3 at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s just another step,” Judge said. “I wouldn’t say it’s significant or not significant. There’s a lot of steps we gotta take to get back to going on the field, so this is just another step along the way.”
Judge indicated that there was nothing specific that cleared him to begin playing catch, just that he told the team he was going to do it.
The timeline for his return to the Yankees remained unclear since he still has plenty of more hurdles to clear.
The short throwing session did not put much of a strain on Judge’s right big toe, and he admitted that he tried not to push into it too much.
But the Yankees captain said he “didn’t really feel too much … so it was a good sign for me.” He hopes to play catch again on Thursday.
“Not a lot of weight bearing when you’re throwing,” Judge said. “It’s more your front [left] leg than anything. I kind of want to keep my arm in shape so when I do come back, I’m not spending another week trying to get the arm in shape to go play. Any little thing I can do to shorten the day, I’m trying to do it.”
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Manager Aaron Boone said Judge’s eventual return would begin to feel more realistic once he sees him start hitting.
“Really being able to torque and turn on that back foot,” Boone said. “When he gets to that point where he starts being able to let it go hitting-wise, that’ll be a good indicator that now it’s just about getting him built up and ready to go.”
Boone said there are not any immediate plans on the horizon for Judge to begin a hitting progression just yet.
“He’s put some things in my head, but we’ll see as we go through the days here,” Boone said.
Since Judge was injured while making a terrific catch and slamming his toe into an unprotected concrete ledge at the base of the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium, he has received a pair of PRP injections to try to help speed up the recovery process.
The second shot on June 15 appeared to help more than the first, but his progress has still come at a slow pace.
That made Wednesday’s simple act of playing catch a notable one for the Yankees’ most important player.
“It’s felt better every single day that we’ve pushed it in the weight room, pushed it in the training room,” Judge said. “They always kind of say, ‘You’re going to be sore the next day,’ and I always feel pretty good. So we’ll see how it feels [Thursday], but I’m hoping to get back out there [Thursday] and keep it up.”
