TAMPA — Aaron Judge has played in the Yankees’ first home Grapefruit League game in each of the past four years.
But the crowd at Steinbrenner Field will not see the reigning AL MVP in Friday’s opener and instead will have to wait an extra week to watch him in action this spring, as manager Aaron Boone has circled March 1 as Judge’s likely spring debut.
“With Aaron, now having done this nine to 10 years into his career now, what did he play, 158 games last year?” Boone said Thursday. “I just feel like I don’t want to rush him out there. Just walking through the schedule with him the other day too of, how do we build up and making sure we get a steady build with the right number of at-bats.”
Boone also pointed to the resources the Yankees have behind the scenes, like the Trajekt pitching machine that mimics exact pitches of big leaguers, in helping Judge get ready for the start of the season.
“I just do what I’m told,” Judge said with a laugh. “I went into [Boone’s] office, he was kind of looking at dates, he said, ‘Hey, how do you feel about [Feb.] 28 or [March] 1?’ I said, whatever you got lined up, as long as that last week I’m playing almost every day getting three, four at-bats.”
Boone is also targeting March 1 for Austin Wells’ debut after holding the catcher out of the first week of games given the heavy workload he endured down the stretch last year.
DJ LeMahieu is expected to make his debut in the middle of next week.
The Yankees’ lineup against the Rays on Friday will include regulars Paul Goldschmidt, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe, Jasson Domínguez and Cody Bellinger, with J.C. Escarra catching Marcus Stroman.
Roger Clemens is expected to arrive at camp Friday as a guest instructor for the first time.
Boone has been wanting to get him down to spring training for a few years but it finally worked out this year.
Boone called Clemens “one of my favorite teammates ever,” though the seven-time Cy Young winner — whose Hall of Fame bid has been derailed by allegations that he used steroids — has not been involved with the Yankees since 2007, the last year of his career.
“He’s really excited to be here,” Boone said. “He said he’d be early and stay for the games. He’s got so much to offer. He does love this game. Excited to have him in.”
Clarke Schmidt echoed Boone in essentially deeming his back issue a nothing-burger, though that will be put to the test Friday when the right-hander is scheduled to throw a bullpen session.
Schmidt last threw off the mound last Friday, after which he experienced “general soreness” in his back, leading the Yankees to throttle back his buildup over the past week.
“It’s early, so we don’t want to push through anything crazy and make an issue,” Schmidt said on his 29th birthday Thursday. “But yeah, I think in the ramp-up phase, throwing some lives across the street [at the minor league complex], I had some extra soreness after that, so just taking it easy and starting that ramp-up back now.”
