'Feeling great,' Judge relishes return to field

NEW YORK – Four months to wear a mask, wash your hands and take a shot at winning the World Series. That is the message that Aaron Judge is voicing to his Yankees teammates as they approach this unique 60-game sprint to the finish.

“There’s a lot of rules and regulations about you can’t do this, you can’t do that,” Judge said on Monday. “That’s kind of what we talked to the team about: ‘Fellas, we’ve got four months of locking it in.’

“Four months to go through everything in the procedures to keep everybody safe. Hold off on going out or going to places; be smart. We’ve got four months to win a championship and we want everybody on the field. You can spit, do sunflower seeds and go out to a restaurant once this is all over.”

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Playing this season was never in question for Judge, who said that he understands there is a level of risk involved with playing Major League ball during a pandemic. Having reviewed the plan to complete the season, Judge is confident that Major League Baseball and the Yankees will succeed in keeping players safe.

“There’s obviously a risk with anything,” Judge said. “Walking outside, there's a risk. Leaving your apartment, there's a risk. There's risk everywhere, but I love this game and I love the team that we've got here and the opportunity we have here. Even though it's 60 games, I just can't wait to get it started.”

After facing ace right-hander Gerrit Cole in a simulated game at Yankee Stadium last week, Judge continued to fine-tune his timing on Monday, taking at-bats in intrasquad action against right-hander Clarke Schmidt and Chad Green. Judge went hitless but said that he was seeing the ball well.

“We've got a pretty tough pitching staff out there,” Judge said. “These next couple weeks are going to be tough, but we're looking forward to it. You want to face the best and we've got the best. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.”

Judge said that he has completely recovered from the fractured right rib and collapsed lung that were diagnosed during Spring Training, and that he was swinging without discomfort when he left the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla. The slugger said that his focus will be on logging as many trips to home plate as possible over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

“It feels good to be back on the field,” Judge said. “I kept inching, trying to push them on the regimen a little bit on what we could do because my body was feeling great and I knew we had limited time to get ready for the season.”

Judge, who also played several innings in the outfield on Monday, said that he expects to be ready for the Yankees’ season opener on July 23 against the Nationals in Washington, D.C.

“I’m game-ready,” Judge said. “Like I told you guys in Spring Training, I was going to be ready for Opening Day, so I'm feeling good. The biggest thing now is just getting the reps because I've missed so many at-bats. I didn't get all the reps in the outfield, reps on the bases. For me right now, it's just getting my timing back in the game and getting my game reps to go out there for 60 games.”