TAMPA — Aaron Judge was listed as part of a group that was scheduled to take batting practice on a back field Saturday morning.
That never actually took place — Judge instead hit inside for a second straight day, Aaron Boone later revealed — but Brian Cashman insisted he was not concerned about his star outfielder who has not played since last Sunday because of an abdominal issue.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s in the rearview mirror, even though he hasn’t played yet,” Cashman said Saturday. “That’s more of a timing issue rather than a concern issue. And he’s a pro. He knows how to get ready and knock the rust off, all that stuff. I’m not worried about him.”
Judge had an MRI exam on Monday that he and the team said came back clean, though he did not resume swinging until Friday, when he did tee-and-toss work indoors.
After doing his defensive work outside on Saturday, he went inside to do more tee-and-toss in addition to having batting practice thrown to him.
As for what was next?
“I’m not gonna predict anymore,” said manager Aaron Boone, whose last few predictions on when Judge might play again did not come to fruition. “I’m not worried about it. We’ll see.”
Judge has repeatedly said that his main goal is to be ready for Opening Day on March 28.
Cashman added the Yankees’ doctors have told him Judge is “good.”
“Just give him some time and get him going again,” Cashman said. “It’s just something that popped up that, because it happens to be March, we can give it the time to eradicate it.”
Cashman reiterated the Yankees have not had any extension talks with Juan Soto since landing him in a December trade.
“Our expectation is that he’s going to go into free agency,” Cashman said. “We’ve been transparent with that. If something changed on that, we wouldn’t create a party line with it. Right now we haven’t had any conversations.
Former Yankee and new Blue Jays third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa got a nice ovation from the crowd at Steinbrenner Field as he walked to the plate for his first at-bat.
He later delivered an RBI single off Clay Holmes.
Catcher Ben Rice and right-hander Chase Hampton on Saturday were named the winners of the 2023 Kevin Lawn Awards, recognizing the Yankees’ minor league position player and pitcher of the year.
Rice, in 73 games between Low-A, High-A and Double-A, hit .324 with 20 home runs and a 1.048 OPS.
Hampton, one of the Yankees’ top pitching prospects, posted a 3.63 ERA with 145 strikeouts across 106 ²/₃ innings between High-A and Double-A in his first year of pro ball.
The Yankees optioned swingman Cody Morris to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and reassigned lefty reliever Anthony Misiewicz to minor league camp.
