The Yankees first full squad workout is slated to take place later this morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. As expected, Aaron Judge is slated to participate in on-field drills and batting practice.
But when Grapefruit League action begins on Friday, Judge will be a glaring omission from the starting lineup. Judge had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder shortly after the 2017 season concluded, and he was only recently cleared by doctors to continue doing shoulder presses and overhead movements.
While Judge is going at a slower pace than the rest of his teammates, he doesn’t seem to mind as long as he’s healthy to begin the season.
“I understand it. It’s all part of it,” Judge said to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com yesterday morning as position players reported to camp. “This process right here doesn’t matter. What’s important is being ready for Opening Day, so if I take a couple days here slow and miss a couple games or miss some activities, I don’t mind that. I’d rather not miss any games when it starts to count.”
Many are speculating Judge and Giancarlo Stanton will be in the same batting practice group this morning, and if that’s the case, the it would be quite the way for the Yankees to kick off camp.
“That’s the plan,” Judge said. “We’ll see once we get in if that’s still the plan, but I’m supposed to be full-go on the field with all of the guys. I’m looking forward to that.”
