VERDICT: JUDGE 100%
With wrist healed, Aaron set to go
TAMPA — Aaron Judge began the spring with a few swings in the cage, a few bunts and line drives. Then the Yankees’ slugger hammered a few balls over the fence to the cheers of fans who had filled the lower bowl at George M. Steinbrenner Field for the first full-squad workout.
It was as free and easy as Judge has looked in more than a year.
On a day when one of the biggest free agents in the game signed somewhere else, Judge’s power display was a reason the Yankees are openly talking about their excitement and expectations.
“We came up a little short last season,” Judge said. “It’s always a disappointment. Anytime you don’t win a World Series, you always want to be that last one standing. That will be our goal again this year. We added quite a few new arms, we added a couple of new position players that are really going to beef up this lineup.
“We already look pretty good.”
Tuesday, Judge looked pretty good just stepping into the cage. He came into camp free from the discomfort that nagged him after he missed 45 games with a broken wrist.
“I’m 100% healthy. That was one of the things I was looking forward to this offseason, getting a chance to actually have a normal offseason. The year before, going into ’18, dealing with the shoulder surgery, the majority of my time was spent rehabbing that,” Judge said. “I didn’t really get to work out. I didn’t even start swinging a bat until I got down here. It was a difficult start to ’18. This year, getting a chance to take a couple of weeks off and work on a couple of things I need to work on, and just get ready for the season – it was nice.”
After a rookie season in which he hit 52 homers, Judge struggled with the broken wrist and how long it lingered last season.
“That was the thing that I was surprised about, especially during the season when it comes out in three weeks you’ll be healthy, 10 days you’ll be swinging a bat, and then how that lingered on,” Judge said. “That pain and all that lasted a little longer than three weeks. In the offseason I was a little worried about it, but it’s 100%. I felt nothing. It feels like nothing even happened, which is a good thing. Nothing to worry about there.”
And Judge still finished 2018 hitting .278/.392/.528 with 27 homers and 67 RBI in 112 games.
The adversity gave him a little perspective, though.
“Wow, 2018, there were a lot of ups and downs,” Judge said. “The biggest thing is going out there and play your game. Especially once we added the big lineup that we did, and the big bullpen, there were a lot of expectations on this team and we enjoyed that. I enjoy that part of it. But when it comes down to it, we just got to play our game and be ourselves. When this team plays like we know how we’re going to play, things turn out the right way. Probably the biggest thing I learned is just go out there and play your game. That’s all you really can do.”