Rehab assignment on tap for LeMahieu

TORONTO — DJ LeMahieu is just about ready for his next step, which is the final one before he can rejoin the Yankees. The veteran third baseman is expected to begin a rehab assignment on Thursday or Friday with Double-A Somerset, just over a month after fouling a ball off his right foot and suffering a non-displaced fracture. The 35-year-old LeMahieu, who projected he would need fewer than five rehab games, indicated that the progress he has made with his foot recently has been stark. “Really good. Way better,” LeMahieu said Tuesday at Rogers Centre before the Yankees fell to the Blue Jays 5-4. “I would say the last week, it’s been really good.”

Aaron Boone recently said LeMahieu would at least have to build up to play in back-toback games before he would be ready to rejoin the Yankees. On Tuesday, Boone said LeMahieu’s estimate of needing fewer than five games was “possible,” though he was noncommittal on a number.

“Obviously a guy of DJ’s stature and experience, understanding he’s certainly going to have some input there,” Boone said. “But this is also something we want to make sure he’s got some endurance and he’s in a good place when he’s ready to come back.”

Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Tuesday and is now hitting .182 with a .731 OPS through 18 games.

“Just not dominating the heater like he normally does,” Boone said. “He’s going to get it, and buckle up. I feel like he’s been in and out of getting real close at times. Just gotta work to get that feeling, and he will.”

Judge said the layoff he had late in spring training due to abdominal discomfort was not impacting his start to the season.

“It’s baseball,” Judge said. “You go through ups and downs like this throughout the year. Obviously you don’t want to start out like that.”

Before he got injured, LeMahieu was expected to regularly serve as the Yankees’ leadoff man.

Gleyber Torres filled in for him there through the Yankees’ first 12 games of the season before Boone bumped Anthony Volpe up to that spot. And given the success the second-year shortstop has had in setting the table for Juan Soto and Judge it doesn’t sound like that will change when LeMahieu returns.

“Probably not taking Anthony out of the leadoff spot,” Boone said. “The good thing with DJ is I feel like he can fit a lot of different spots in the order.”