Judge is center of attention in field, too

When Aaron Boone first got the job managing the Yankees, Aaron Hicks let him know. The 6-foot-7 slugger thought of himself as a center fielder. Through the years, Judge kept dropping hints. He played 53 games at center for Fresno State, was drafted by the Yankees as a center fielder.

Now, given the chance, Judge isn’t talking about it, he’s showing everyone he can do it. Tuesday night, Judge made a tremendous play reading a Shohei Ohtani’s long flyball off the bat, running back to the left-center wall and making a leaping grab to pull back a home run.

It was a game-changer in the first inning.

“He’s had a couple against us when I was a Texas so you know that sound off the bat,” Yankees catcher Jose Trevino said of watching Judge track down the ball and snatch it. “But yeah, I thought it was out but thankfully you have someone that’s six foot seven out there.”

It’s more than just his size. Judge has shown he has a pretty good glove all those years in right field, but moving over to center has shown new range. He moves well and gets good reads off the ball.

And, well, the 30-year-old who carries the Yankees offense, leading the majors with 18 home runs, just likes playing there.

“The space and kind of control I feel like I can be a little more vocal I can talk to the guys,” Judge said of playing centerfield. “can move guys around a little bit more because I got you know I’m right there in the middle so I can see different things. What guys swings are, where the pitches are, because in right and left (field), you are kind of just reacting. You can’t really see it. ‘Hey, was that ball in and was that away?’ You know why they take a swing like that. So just being able to communicate a little bit more. Just kind of talk with Joey (Gall) and Miguel Andujar) or (Aaron Hicks), if he’s out there too. I just enjoy it. It’s part of the game out there.”

Tuesday night was the 17th time the Yankees started Judge in centerfield this season.He made 21 starts there last season. It began as a way to keep Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup when the Yankees were in National league parks and there was no designated hitter or when Boone wanted to use the DH for someone else. Right field, Judge’s professional home for so much of his career, is easier for Stanton to play.

Initially there were concerns about Judge playing there and maintaining his health. Centerfield is a big area to cover and Judge’s legs are a big part of his offensive game. The

Yankees were not sure they wanted to risk that considering Judge had a history of injuries.

But Boone decided to try it last season.

“Yeah, I just got sick of them in my office. I said fine. Let’s go,” Boone joked of Judge bugging him about playing center. “Early on, not that I thought he was joking, but he’d always tell me you know, even probably my first year managing here, ‘I can play center if you need me to. I’d dismissed it but it started in my mind becoming like, ‘Well, maybe this is something we should do.’ He took to it right away last year. He is very, very natural out there. Andyeah, I wish I would have had him play it earlier than then last year.”

Jordan Montgomery, who gave up the long, high fly ball to Ohtani in the first inning is just glad that Judge was there Tuesday night. The lefty felt that Ohtani had hit it high enough that there was a chance Judge could get it.

“I definitely like Judge anywhere,” Montgomery said. “He’s an athlete. He’s gonna play really hard. I trust him anywhere. Put him behind the plate, I’d trust him.”

DONALDSON UPDATE

Josh Donaldson expects to be back soon and better than before. The 36-year-old had a cortisone shot in his right shoulder last week to deal with the discomfort associated with a lot of wear and tear that comes with a 12-year MLB career.

Donaldson is eligible to return on Thursday and Yankees manager Aaron Boone thinks that he will be activated soon.

The infielder was initially on the COVID-19 injury list, but testing negative for the coronavirus. While dealing with the cold-like symptoms, he decided to use the down time to address the shoulder, which had been bothering him off and on from spring training.

“Oh, you know, I was kind of feeling sick and I knew that how I was responding probably wasn’t going to be good to rush back at that time,” Donaldson. “So I might as well just kind of knock this out. It’s kind of been up and down all spring training all the way to the season. I feel like it’s a good time to be able to do it.”

Donaldson said that his shoulder feels good now. He previously had a cortisone shot in 2018 and went on to have a good season. Donaldson hit 23 homers that year between the Blue Jays and Cleveland.

In ’18 when I had one, I did a nice little throwing program and I was able to come back and I didn’t have any problems with the rest of the year,” Donaldson said. “So I’m hoping I’m good.”