How Yankees know Aaron Judge is all the way back — just in time

Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames explains the good he’s seen from Aaron Judge with the American League Wild Card approaching.

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BOSTON — Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames watched the ball zip out of play at 105.2 mph and travel 399 feet on Friday night.

Aaron Judge crushed it, sure, and the numbers were signs that it was struck by a healthy hitter with massive power. More importantly to Thames, however, was the it left the ballpark.

“I’m glad he got that one out of the way,” Thames said in the clubhouse at Fenway Park on Sunday.

Yankees-A’s prediction

Especially with the do-or-die American League Wild Card Game vs. the A’s happening at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.

Typically, Yankees coaches talk qualify performance with concepts that are a bit abstract, such as at-bat quality.

Thames was more interested in the result because while the 26-year-old seemed fully recovered from the right wrist fracture that had kept him on the disabled list for about a month and a half, he felt watching the ball go over the fence was more important for Judge.

“He’s hit some balls hard,” Thames said. “It was good for him to get the homer. He hadn’t had one since he’d been back. That’s good.”

The home run was Judge’s first since July 21 — four games before taking a fastball off the wrist that put his chances to finish the regular season in danger.

It gave him 27 bombs on the season — a year after he clubbed 52 en route to a AL Rookie of the Year crown and MVP runner-up.

The Yankees will need him to be in top form if they want to get past Oakland and beat last year’s playoff run, which ended in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

Thames said he’s confident Judge is at that point after such a long layoff and some time knocking off rust.

“His timing is right where it needs to be. he’s going to battle for us. He’s going to give great at-bats and it’s time to go forward now. It’s go time,” Thames said.

“He’s always going to put together good at-bats. He’s going to give you six or seven pitches an at-bat. Just the timing part of it. Him getting the home run was good. Like (Sunday), he’s 3-2 count, called him out on the ball I thought the ball was outside the plate but he’s right where he needs to be.”

And Thames said the wrist isn’t limiting Judge at all.

“Once he told me I was 100 percent,” Thames said, “I knew he just had to get his timing back and do his routine in the cages and just get the at-bats so he could get his eye back right.”

So Judge is in midseason form? Better than that, Thames said.

“Can’t even be middle-of-the-season (form) now,” the hitting coach said. “It’s the postseason. It’s go time.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.