Yankees: Aaron Judge Speaks to Media for First Time in Months

Yankees star Aaron Judge spoke to the media for the first time since March on Monday.

Aaron Judge’s early days at Yankees Spring Training were marred by mystery.

At first, we were told Judge had a minor shoulder ailment. Then, suddenly, the pain migrated below to his pectoral.

A few days later…well, actually, it’s a rib fracture, and he’s had it since September, and it may never go away.

After months of silence, bleak updates, and a dicey situation on the home front involving his girlfriend’s DUI, we were all rightfully surprised a few weeks back when Judge suddenly seemed all in and good to go for the 2020 season’s resumption. After the team’s first summer scrimmage, he broke his silence to the media, and declared himself a safe bet for Opening Day.

“It’s been a couple weeks, a month or so that I’ve been able to swing. … It feels good to be back on the field,” Judge told the assembled media on Monday. Somehow, that was the first time we were privy to this information.

“I kept pushing, kept inching them on the regimen a little bit, because my body was feeling great,” he continued.

Luckily, it does seem like this break was handled the right way, without a lot of stops and starts befitting of a stir-crazy slugger. After months away from the reality of the New York media, the crew did handle Judge with class, not touching on the particulars of his personal life.

With Giancarlo Stanton still not fully recovered from a calf injury he suffered earlier in the spring (and now relegated to DH duties), Judge’s presence in the outfield rings all the more surprising, considering how far away from the game he seemed just about a month ago.

There’s tons of uncertainty embedded in the game in 2020, but we’re thankful that if things get up and running, Judge will likely be a major part of the proceedings.