The return of New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge is imminent as he has completed nearly all baseball activities required to be activated. Judge participated in on-field batting practice for the second consecutive day on Saturday at Petco Park, a part of his comprehensive regimen to build endurance.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone stated that Judge is physically at the finish line and ready to play, but the focus is now on replicating the demands of a nine-inning game. Judge has engaged in various baseball drills, including base running, and has met all physical benchmarks for his return.
The final step before activation is facing live pitching, which the Yankees aim to arrange for Monday when the team returns home. The team is considering various options for this, potentially including pitcher Clarke Schmidt, who is currently on a rehab assignment.
Judge himself indicated on Friday that he would likely need to face live pitching a couple of times before being activated, preferring this to occur in the big leagues rather than a rehab assignment. The Yankees are contemplating a strategy where Judge might play a game and then have a day off, or play limited innings in the field during his initial games back to manage his workload.
In other team news, pitcher Will Warren is scheduled to rejoin the rotation for his next turn on the upcoming homestand after pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings on Friday. Additionally, Austin Wells was in the lineup Saturday against a left-handed pitcher and is expected to catch Gerrit Cole in Sunday's series finale, marking his participation in all three games of the series.