Yankees drop more hints for Aaron Judge’s return as full-time player

Yankees have a plan for the return of Aaron Judge as a full-time player.

NEW YORK — Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge might be back as a full-time player before the Boston Red Sox leave town this week or maybe his first at-bats post-fractured right wrist won’t occur until the weekend.

Either way, Judge is getting closer and closer to getting at-bats after being activated from the disabled list on Friday under guidelines that he could only play defense or pinch-hit until further notice.

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“We have a plan in place and as that unfolds we’ll kind of let you know, but he’s getting close,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sunday.

Judge returned on Friday night to play right field for the eighth and ninth innings of the Yankees’ 11-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, but he didn’t hit.

And if his place in the order would have come up in the home eighth, Judge would have left the game for a pinch-hitter because the Yankees don’t think he’s ready to face major league pitching.

Why not let Judge just stand at the plate and track pitches?

“Of course I thought of that, but no,” Boone said. “(Yankees head athletic trainer) Steve Donohue would have tackled me. I told Stevie that I was going to send (Judge) up on deck just to get him going a little bit. But no, he wouldn’t have hit in that situation. We would have pinch-hit for him.”

The Yankees are delaying Judge’s return as a hitter because he went more than a month without even picking up a bat. He was injured on July 26, then didn’t resuming swinging until Sept. 3 and he didn’t take batting practice until Sept. 10.

On Sunday, Judge was scheduled to hit high-velocity fastballs for the first time off a pitching machine. Sometime this week, he’s expected to get at-bats in a simulated game, possibly rehabbing closer Aroldis Chapman’s on Monday or Tuesday. (The date hasn’t been set.)

Judge won’t be ready to start on Tuesday when the Yankees begin their three-game set against the Red Sox, but he might be back before Thursday’s series finale, and if not next weekend’s home series against the Baltimore Orioles seems a good bet.

“I would say (the Boston series is) a possibility,” Boone said. “That’s potentially in the timeline, but I wouldn’t say we’re there to make that call yet. I’d say around that time he could be close.

“I would think by some point on this homestand assuming everything continues to progress he should be (getting at-bats).”

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