Aaron Judge may be doing everything in his power to be ready for the start of the postseason, but two days before Game 1 of the AL wild-card series, that has yet to involve baseball activities.
At least as of Sunday morning, the three-time MVP’s calf strain had limited him to rehab, some plyometric exercises and the treadmill as he tries to be ready in time to make the roster against the Red Sox.
“So not a whole lot yet,” manager Aaron Boone said on a rainy Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
Whether Judge needs to actually participate in any baseball activities – hitting and running being the most telling given his injury – before the Yankees would feel comfortable including him on the wild-card series roster remains to be seen.
“Look, it’s Sunday,” Boone said. “We’ll get to Tuesday morning when we have to enter our [roster]. We’ll just see what we have, and along with the trainers and medical, we’ll make a decision.”
Boone said earlier this week that the Yankees were not planning for Judge to be on the roster for the wild-card round, while leaving the door open for it to happen, though the captain was not happy about that and reiterated his plan to make himself available for the series.
Asked if there was a scenario where Judge might not be ready for Tuesday but could be later in the series and so the Yankees carry him on the roster, Boone said he had not had that conversation with trainers yet.
“We’ll have those when we make the decision,” Boone said. “Those kind of things will be considered.”
Judge’s status is one of the many wild cards as the Yankees try to nail down their 26-man roster to face the Red Sox, along with Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham and Ryan Weathers, all of whom are coming back from injuries.
Stanton, who has missed the last five months with three different calf strains, would be a pinch hitter. Grisham, out since early September with another hamstring strain, could start in center against right-hander Sonny Gray (bumping Spencer Jones to right field and Heliot Ramos to the bench). And Weathers would be a one-inning reliever out of the bullpen after coming back from a left forearm flexor strain, offering a power lefty that they do not otherwise have.
“Physically I’m ready to go,” Grisham said Sunday morning.
“I feel super healthy, so we’ll see how it shakes out,” said Weathers, who threw a 15-pitch live batting practice session on Friday against Grisham and Stanton.
Boone indicated that Weathers is “very much in play for this round,” but he expected they would finalize a decision on Monday.
“I like where he’s at,” Boone said. “I think he feels really healthy, looks really healthy.”
As for Stanton, the veteran DH has been hitting throughout his extended absence, but is that enough to feel good about him jumping right into the playoffs?
“I feel like nobody knows themselves and their body as well as Big G does,” Boone said. “He’s always honest and he’s always real transparent about where he’s at. Also, you know the track record of success and trusting him in really difficult, tough spots to put an at-bat together. So we’ll see here and make those decisions sometime [Monday] probably.”
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