BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge is playing regularly and producing when he’s on the field, so this season so far has been an improvement on what he has dealt with in previous years, when he’s missed long stretches with various injuries.
Still, the concern and mystery was hardly removed from Judge’s health situation when he wasn’t in lineup for Wednesday’s 7-0 win over the Orioles after being removed in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s victory, with what manager Aaron Boone called “lower body soreness.”
Boone said he expected Judge to be in the lineup for Thursday’s day game, but was intentionally vague Wednesday, refusing to go into further specifics even when pressed.
“He’s a little banged up on the trip,’’ Boone said before the game. “I would say a number parts of the lower body [are sore].”
Boone defended not detailing exactly what’s bothering Judge, mentioning “multiple minor things that pop up.”
“There’s times it’s absolutely, clearly specific,’’ Boone said. “And other times it’s a little bit of gray, a little bit gray and a little bit wear-and-tear, so that’s what I leave it at.”
The Yankees’ outfield depth taking a hit after the trade of Mike Tauchman to the Giants in exchange for lefty reliever Wandy Peralta, and Boone said the organization would have conversation in the coming weeks about potentially using Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield.
“We’ll talk about maybe keeping that option open,’’ Boone said. “That does free up, a little bit, the DH spot on a given day.”
But that move does not seem imminent.
For all the understandable attention surrounding Judge’s absence, he entered Wednesday trailing only a pair of teammates — DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres — in plate appearances this season.
And his OPS of .885 is by far the highest in the lineup.
His strikeout rate is also the lowest of his career, and his average exit velocity of 97.5 mph is a career high.
Nevertheless, Judge — who turned 29 on Monday — has already dealt with a similarly ambiguous side issue that cost him two games earlier this month that was apparently due to taking too many swings during a game in which he was serving as the DH on April 4.
Now, in the middle of a 13-game stretch on the schedule without a day off, Boone said he would look to get just about all of his regulars a break at some point.
But the manager added: “It’s more he’s been sore the last couple days and trying to be out in front of something, especially in this grueling stretch early in the season. … My hope is he’s in there [Thursday].”
For players like LeMahieu and Torres, those games off seemed more like rest days and not about being held out of the lineup to prevent aggravation of an injury.
Judge missed at least nearly a third of the regular season in each of the previous three years — playing in 112, 102 and 28 games, respectively.
Boone said he still had hope Judge would play 140 or 150 games this year, a goal Judge expressed earlier this month, as well.
In Judge’s absence on Wednesday, the struggling Clint Frazier started in right field, with Brett Gardner — also slumping — in left. And Aaron Hicks was in center, to complete the trifecta of unproductive offensive players in the outfield. Gardner and Hicks combined to go 0-for-7, but Fraizer was 2-for-4 with a solo homer and a double.