Report: Aaron Judge suggests he’ll be ready for Yankees’ wild-card opener

By Field Level Media

Sep 29 (Field Level Media) – Yankees manager Aaron Boone doesn’t expect three-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge to be available for New York’s American League wild-card series.

Judge intends to prove Boone wrong by rehabbing his strained right calf in time for Tuesday’s wild-card opener against the visiting Boston Red Sox.

“That’s what the plan is,” Judge told ESPN. “Try to get my body ready so I’m ready to go.”

Judge, who took batting practice and live at-bats Monday for the first time since his injury Sept. 16, played in just seven games over the last four months due to multiple injuries.

On Saturday, he returned to the injured list with a Grade 2 calf strain. He received a platelet-poor plasma (PPP) injection Monday to accelerate his recovery, which typically takes weeks rather than days.

In Judge’s 66 games this season, he has posted a career-low .241 batting average to go with a .360 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage.

He has hit 18 homers in 285 plate appearances, a rate of one every 15.8 PAs. That trails his career rate of one homer every 13.7 plate appearances.

As the American League’s No. 1 wild-card team, the Yankees will host every game in a best-of-three series. If the Yankees win the wild-card round, they would open AL Division Series play Saturday.

The AL Championship Series begins Oct. 12, which would be 26 days after Judge suffered his calf strain. Recovery from a Grade 2 calf strain typically takes several weeks.

(–Field Level Media)