BALTIMORE — Late Friday night, after he had played his first game in nearly two months, Aaron Judge declared himself ready for more.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had cautioned before the series against the Orioles began that Judge might not play in all three games.
The team wants to build up his workload carefully after he returned without a rehab assignment.
But Judge had other ideas.
“I’m trying to play every one,” he said after going 0-for-1 with three walks as the DH in a crushing 1-0 loss to the Orioles on Friday.
“I’ve got a lot of missed time, so I gotta get back out there.”
Apparently Judge made a convincing case to Boone, as he was back in the lineup on Saturday and starting in right field for the first time since he tore a ligament in his right big toe on June 3.
“Really just checking with him [Friday] night and making sure [director of sports medicine and rehabilitation Michael Schuk] felt good about it too,” Boone said Saturday. “Felt like he came out of it well.”
After playing back-to-back Friday and Saturday, Judge might now sit for the series finale on Sunday.
“Maybe. Probably,” Boone said. “But we’ll see. We’ll get through today and see where we’re at.”
So goes the daily battle the Yankees will face in balancing the urgency of their situation — they entered Saturday 3 ½ games back of the final wild-card spot with 59 games to play — with keeping Judge healthy enough to play out the final two months of the season.
The Yankees hope to get to a point at which Judge is playing every day, but Boone said that would not happen right out of the gate.
The team captain played in just two abbreviated simulated games before returning.
While the Yankees just began a critical stretch of 10 games against the Orioles, Rays and Astros — three teams are chasing for a playoff spot — Judge is expected to have at least a few off days mixed in.
“Obviously as much as there’s urgency for us, we gotta be smart about that,” Boone said. “In talking with Aaron, making sure he’s honest with his feedback about how he’s recovering, how he’s bouncing back, obviously how the toe’s doing, but how everything else is doing as we get him back into the mix hopefully to a point where he’s feeling good and ready to really go every day at some point.”
Boone said he checked in with Judge throughout the game Friday to see how his toe responded to certain situations, like the check swing he took on his second plate appearance and his three times running the bases.
That was expected to continue on Saturday, especially as Judge got his first action in the field, though Boone said the reigning AL MVP has generally been smart about not being reckless with his 6-foot-7, 282-pound frame on defense.
“Believe it or not, he’s been aware and curtailed some of that over the last year or two,” Boone said, Judge’s collision with the right field wall at Dodger Stadium notwithstanding. “He’s played a little smarter. Doesn’t mean he’s not going to play hard and try to make plays.
“But I think there’s certain things he doesn’t feel great about doing yet. So he’s naturally going to avoid certain things.”
Judge said he knows how to handle the delicate balance between his desire to play and being cautious with his body.
“I think it goes to your preparation,” Judge said. “If I’m preparing and taking care of my body and what I need to do to make sure I can go out there every single night and play nine innings, then I think we’ll be in a good position. I think Boonie might have some other ideas, but we’ll talk about it.”
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