ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Standing in the batter’s box at Tropicana Field, surrounded by teammates and a batting cage, Aaron Judge launched one line drive after another Friday afternoon. But he didn’t run on the turf inside the Tampa Bay Rays’ home park, and he didn’t work on defense in right field.
That’s why it seems likely Judge, nursing a right calf strain, will be left off the Yankees’ roster for the best-of-five American League Division Series against the Rays starting Saturday night.
Judge also wasn’t on the Yankees’ roster when they swept the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series this week.
Officially, manager Aaron Boone didn’t rule out the 34-year-old making his return. And Boone specifically didn’t rule out Judge being used as a pinch hitter.
“We’ll make those calls probably later tonight,” Boone told reporters before a workout Friday afternoon.
Judge spent the morning getting medical treatment, running and taking live batting practice at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training stadium in Tampa, Boone said. The manager added that he didn’t know if Judge ran the bases while he was there.
“The trainers will obviously play a big part in this,” Boone said. “As the day unfolds, we’ll see where we’re at and what it potentially looks like for the series.”
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Judge finished the season on the injured list after leaving a Sept. 16 game with a strained calf.
The Yankees don’t want to push it and potentially make Judge’s strain worse. Boone has described it as “moderate,” though Judge took umbrage with that description shortly after.
The Yankees also likely don’t want to bring Judge back on the turf at the Rays’ ballpark. Even when Judge is healthy, the Yankees often don’t play him for a full series in the outfield at Tropicana Field, usually giving him a rest day at designated hitter so as not to jeopardize his legs.
“That plays into it a little bit,” Boone said. “It’s just as far as him and the field, potentially. But we’re looking at the days and so it’s more, ‘Is he going to be available at some point in this series, potentially, as a player?’ That’s what we’re kind of weighing and then seeing where he’s at now these last few days having taken live (batting practice). We’ll see how today goes.”
Without Judge, the Yankees will likely start rookie Spencer Jones in right field. The Rays are expected to use three right-handed starting pitchers in the series: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez and Freddy Peralta. Trent Grisham will likely start in center field with Cody Bellinger in left field.
Unusual perk
Virtually every major-league stadium has a Trajekt pitching machine, which features a video board that can simulate the delivery of any pitcher in the majors. Except it’s almost always off-limits to road teams, which are forced to use traditional pitching machines.
But since the Yankees’ player development facility is just a half-hour drive away, and it has a Trajekt, some players could go there before Game 1 on Saturday and use it to simulate at-bats against Rasmussen or any other Rays pitcher.
“Maybe for the guys that really like Trajekt,” first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said. “I’m maybe in the middle to the lower side of using it, but I know some guys use it.”
The proximity to the facility could also make it easier for players to get treatment or work out on Sunday’s off day.
Travel woes
The Yankees didn’t land in Tampa until nearly 1 a.m. Friday. They had been scheduled to fly out of Westchester County Airport in West Harrison, N.Y., late Thursday afternoon, but there was a problem with the Delta charter’s hydraulic system. The team spent three hours in the plane before being forced to drive about an hour to LaGuardia Airport in Queens to get on a different plane.
“First-world problems,” Boone said. “… People got to deal with a lot worse stuff than we dealt with yesterday.”
Boone said the mechanics at the airport “didn’t have a tall enough ladder to fix it.”
“I offered to go get my ladder at home,” he said. “Declined.”
Gerrit Cole said players dealt with the delay a bunch of ways.
“Just hung out,” he said. “Cards, conversations, ribbing each other, video games (and) doom scrolling.”
‘Erase a bad year’
Giancarlo Stanton spoke on the record to reporters for the first time in months before Friday’s workout. He was on the wild-card roster but didn’t play. He hadn’t been active since straining his right calf April 24, and then suffering several setbacks, including straining his left calf.
Boone said Stanton would likely serve only as a pinch-hitting option.
“I’m ready to go however they want to use me,” the slugger said.
Stanton has a history of postseason success for the Yankees, posting a .927 OPS in 48 career playoff games. In 2024, he hit seven home runs in 14 games as the Yankees reached the World Series.
“It’s the most important time of the year,” he said. “How the years have gone, if there’s any time to erase a bad year, it’s in October. It’s the biggest opportunity to show up for the city and do what we can do.”
