New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone doesn’t expect three-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge to be available for next week’s wild-card series.
Judge intends to prove Boone wrong by rehabbing his strained right calf in time for Tuesday’s wild-card opener.
“That’s what the plan is,” Judge told ESPN. “Try to get my body ready so I’m ready to go.”
Judge played in just seven games over the last four months due to multiple injuries. On Saturday, he returned to the injured list with a Grade 2 calf strain. He received a platelet-poor plasma (PPP) injection on Monday to accelerate his recovery, which typically takes weeks instead of days.
In Judge’s 66 games this season, he has posted a career-low .241 batting average to go with a .360 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage.
He has cracked 18 homers in 285 plate appearances, a rate of one every 15.8 PAs. That trails his career rate of one homer every 13.7 plate appearances.
As the American League’s No. 1 wild-card team, the Yankees will host every game in a best-of-three series — likely against the Boston Red Sox. If the Yankees win the wild-card round, they would open American League Divisional Round play on Saturday, Oct. 3.
The American League Championship Series begins Oct. 12, which would be 26 days after Judge suffered his calf strain. Online resources suggest it takes four to eight weeks to recover from a Grade 2 strain.
