Yankees: Aaron Judge Returns to Lineup Wednesday as Aaron Boone Makes Major Change

Aaron Judge returned to the New York Yankees lineup on Wednesday, and Aaron Boone shifted something else, too.

Yankees fans, despite being told not to worry as the team proceeded with extreme caution surrounding Aaron Judge’s stiff neck, went ahead and worried anyway.

After all, isn’t the neck connected to the rib? Even if it’s fine to “take it easy” after waking up on the wrong side of the bed, doesn’t Judge need reps before the season starts next Thursday? What happened to him being “game ready”?!

We were assured early on Wednesday that Judge would be in the lineup after two consecutive days of on-field work, and luckily, we weren’t disappointed.

Aaron Judge slotted into the Yankees lineup, just ahead of Gleyber Torres.

James Paxton has his work cut out for him in his first intra-squad start of Summer Camp, taking on Judge and the A lineup that’s usually reserved for Clarke Schmidt, Michael King, or someone other kid trying to make a first impression.

There’s also one big alteration in here that you may have missed — Clint Frazier, who’s been battling plantar fasciitis and wasn’t running or playing the field, is making his summer debut in an outfield spot.

He’s already had a sterling camp, reputation-wise, making a great impression by being mature enough to wear a mask at the plate. Now we get to see that majesty in the outfield.

For a team that thought  it had solved the injury bug when the season was delayed by several months, the Yankees have certainly run into their fair share of very-anticipated maladies in July. From Judge’s balky neck to Masahiro Tanaka’s tragic accident, the team’s best-case scenario is still very much on thin ice.

Let’s hope that all systems are go on Wednesday night, at least, before we have to scramble for more backup plans and the answers to questions we had no intention of asking.