Boone doubts he’ll put Judge in CF

TAMPA — Aaron Judge played center field in college, but you probably won’t see him out there at Yankee Stadium. Judge told Aaron Boone he’d be open to playing center for the Yankees if necessary.

And Judge, who has played right in the pros, was taking fly balls off a machine out in center alongside outfield instructor Reggie Willits on one of the side fields at Steinbrenner Field on Saturday. Nevertheless, Boone seemed to squash the idea — at least as of now.

“You never say never. You never know how things shake out,” the manager said. “But no, there’s no plan for that right now.”

Judge could see some time in left, though, given Giancarlo Stanton also plays right. The team is still figuring out how it will utilize its slugging duo on a daily basis. Judge could probably handle center, though he’s a big guy and covering so much ground could perhaps wear him down over a long season.

Clint Frazier also suggested he could play center, though Boone basically politely laughed that off.

“I think a lot of guys signed up to play center,” Boone said. “Clint did come up to me and tell me that, and I will say this: I’m excited about the work he’s putting in over at Himes. He’s been here working hard already. We feel like he’s making improvements in the outfield. We feel like athletically there’s a lot more in there defensively, and I thought it was good that he came right up to me and put that in my ear and let me know. We’ll see and evaluate that as we go forward in the coming days.” that’s physical and I think wants to be known not only as a great pitcher but a horse in the rotation. We’ll be cautious with him to a degree but we’re also leaning on him heavily to be the guy we started to see last year.”

The Bombers are still evaluating who their Opening Day starter will be.

Severino and Masahiro Tanaka seem like the obvious candidates for the job. CC Sabathia is likely a longshot, because the team would rather him avoid pitching on the Rogers Centre turf in the first series of 2018.

Perhaps Sabathia — a fan favorite in the Bronx — will start the home opener instead.