Aaron Judge is back in right field for Friday’s series opener against the Red Sox after just his second career start in center field earlier this week, but he could be back in center soon, and the Yankee slugger is fine with that.
“I feel great out there,” Judge said. “I played it in college and played it growing up. I enjoy right field, but in center field I feel like you get better reads and see the pitch coming in. I feel at home out there.”
Aaron Hicks is likely done for the season after wrist surgery, while the 37-year-old Brett Gardner, Friday’s starting center fielder, is going to need days off from time to time. That leaves Judge as one of the only solutions to play center, as Miguel Andujar is still settling in in left field, and Clint Frazier is likely to remain in the corner spots.
But Judge, one of the best defensive right fielders in the game, is ready to play whatever outfield position is needed on any given day, which is a help to Boone and the Yanks, who desperately need Judge’s bat in the lineup as often as possible.
“I’ll play wherever they want me to,” Judge said. “Left field, center field, right, it doesn’t matter. But I feel comfortable as ever out there in center field. It just took me a day to get some reps in center pregame, but after that, I was ready to roll.”
Judge felt like he needed only a few quick tune-ups before feeling at home in center field, a similar sentiment from the opening series of the 2018 season, when he started in center after injuries to Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury. As a natural center fielder despite a frame that’s not natural for the position, Judge doesn’t see center requiring a major adjustment on his part.
“I feel like the reads, that’s why I just wanted to get a couple, especially before that game,” Judge said. “I was out in center field. I wanted to get as many balls as I could off the bat, because the balls just comes off the bat different in center field. You’re gonna get different spin, different slice. When guys pull the ball, it’s going to be a little different…it just took me a couple reps out there in center to kind of get used to that, but that’s over with.”
The other lingering concern could be the added running, and what that might do for Judge’s health, as the oft-injured slugger has already required multiple days of rest due to lower body soreness. But the grass or turf beneath his feet is the same in center as it is in right, and Judge isn’t changing much about his preparation and doesn’t see time in center correlating with a heightened injury risk.
“I just gotta stretch out a little bit longer, that’s about it,” Judge said. “Nothing changes. I’m still running around in right. Center is a little bit more and even the jog in and out from center is a little bit longer, but I just gotta make sure I’m stretched and ready to go. The preparation wasn’t that different.”
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