Aaron Judge easily but strongly _ and accurately _ threw baseballs from right field several hours before Thursday night's Red Sox-Yankees game was postponed because of rain.
If one watched Judge throw the ball to the bases _ including some one-hop strikes to home plate _ and was unaware he has been out since April 21 with a left oblique strain, that person would not have concluded the outfielder was injured.
"I felt I haven't missed a day, it feels like April (20)," Judge said after his on-field workout, which included some agility drills as well as the throwing. "There is no pain and no problem. I am letting it go. The last couple of days, getting back to normal routine and getting the rhythm down again."
This does not mean Judge is suddenly close to a return, an occurrence that very much remains up in the air as there are significant hurdles that haven't yet been tried let alone cleared.
But steady progress, non-existent in the early stages of his rehab, is finally starting to come.
During the Yankees' recent seven-day trip to Baltimore and Kansas City, Judge was frequently seen on the field doing agility work. He just as frequently carried a bat outside, though there wasn't much more than light swings while standing in the outfield and, on multiple occasions, tracking pitches in the bullpen.
But Judge began hitting off a tee on Monday and the 27-year-old said he'll likely start hitting in the indoor cage this weekend and continue that work "into next week."
"Now he just continues to build up the slow, steady progress from a hitting standpoint, which is obviously the biggest thing with that injury," Aaron Boone said earlier in the week. "It's been slow and steady, but it has been steady, and that's been the good thing. He has responded really well to everything."
And everything has been done with the team, both at home and on the road.
"Really important," Boone said Thursday. "Aaron's obviously a special player, but just a special person and a special presence in our room. As upset as he was when he first got injured, one of the first conversations I had with him was, 'You can still impact us in a big way.' And I absolutely feel like he has. He's a part of our hitters' meetings (that precede every series), he's a part of kind of integrating new players that we've brought in to the clubhouse. He's a part of our postgame when we talk and we talk about a victory or whatever. He's been a huge part of this and a huge presence in all of it."
