The Yankees got Aaron Judge back Monday night, and they wrapped the moment in a courtroom joke that leaned hard into the captain’s name and even harder into the timing.
Judge was reinstated from the 60-day injured list, clearing him to play Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium. To make room, the Yankees optioned right-hander Elmer Rodriguez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and designated former top pitching prospect Chase Hampton for assignment.
It ends an absence that lasted 84 games and stretched well beyond the original four-to-six-week recovery window after Judge fractured his right rib. He hadn’t played since May 31, and the Yankees spent most of the summer trying to survive the offensive hit that came with losing him.
They entered June with a .770 team OPS. Since then, that number dropped to roughly .683, and the club hit .227.
The Yankees went 45-39 without him, which kept them in the race thanks mostly to pitching. But the lineup clearly changed shape without its biggest bat. Judge was hitting .248 with a .375 on-base percentage, a .533 slugging percentage, 17 home runs and 38 RBIs when he went on the injured list.
Before the activation, Judge took live pitching Monday at Yankee Stadium and skipped a minor league rehab assignment. Aaron Boone said the Yankees could still ease him back into things.
“Maybe it’s playing a game, having an off day. Maybe it is playing 5, 6, 7 innings in a game and get him out. Those things are on the table,” Boone said.
That kind of flexibility matters because the Yankees are not exactly overflowing with full-strength options. Giancarlo Stanton remains sidelined, and Trent Grisham is on the injured list with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain. Boone still has Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr., Spencer Jones, Cody Bellinger and Heliot Ramos available as ways to manage Judge’s workload.
Even with the cautious ramp-up, Boone made clear what Judge means to the club.
“Best player in the world,” Boone said. “I think it would give us a lot of balance, too, to give us that right-handed hitter.
On the days we’re facing a righty, where we got all our lefties, to have a right-handed hitter in that two-three hole, I think goes a long way. Not only potentially having his production back in there, but hopefully putting the other guys in a better spot, too.”
The Yankees enter the final 19 games at 81-62, four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and two games ahead of Boston for the top American League wild-card spot. They still have four head-to-head games left with the Rays.
The baseball part was only half the show, though. Before the move became official, YES Network posted a teaser reading “Returning soon.”
Then the Yankees pushed the whole thing into legal-theater territory with a reveal showing Judge kneeling in center field, followed by the line: “No further questions, Your Honor.” A second post followed with, “Court is back in session.”
That kind of wordplay fits Judge’s surname, which has been a running joke since his 2017 rookie season. But the Yankees’ latest twist arrived eight months after a real legal ruling tied to courtroom imagery and Judge’s name.
On Jan. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision in a dispute involving Michael Chisena, the MLB Players Association and Judge.
Chisena had sought registrations for “ALL RISE,” “HERE COMES THE JUDGE” and a design mark using judicial imagery on apparel. The MLBPA opposed all three applications, and Judge joined the opposition involving the design mark.
The Federal Circuit upheld the refusal to register the marks, citing substantial evidence of earlier trademark use tied to Judge, including phrases and symbols such as gavels, courthouse imagery and scales of justice.
That ruling did not give Judge ownership of every courtroom phrase or judicial image, and there’s no evidence the January decision drove the Yankees’ September campaign. But the calendar lined up neatly, and the club leaned all the way into it.
Now the spotlight shifts back to the field. Judge returns with the Yankees still alive, still chasing Tampa Bay, and still trying to turn a pitching-led season into something more dangerous.
If he finds his timing quickly, the lineup’s ceiling changes in a hurry. Tuesday against Colorado is the first chance to find out.
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Elmer Rodrguez was optioned to Triple-A to create a roster spot, but the club still has not put a date on Judges comeback. He is expected to face live pitching soon, which is the kind of checkpoint that usually clarifies a recovery timeline, yet the Yankees are still waiting for the final piece before they can say when their captain might rejoin the lineup. [Read more 🡒]