NEW YORK — The Yankees’ outfield of Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Shane Robinson has the injured Aaron Judge worried about his job security once he’s healthy.
"I just hope I've still got my job," Judge joked to reporters Friday during an appearance in Midtown Manhattan. "When I'm healthy, I hope my job is still there."
The 6-7, 280-pound outfielder sat in a corner of Oakley’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue — without a brace covering his fractured right wrist — as the center of attention to discuss his partnership with the company. In typical Judge fashion, however, the slugging outfielder diverted praise toward his teammates.
“We have such a great young team. It hasn’t been fun sitting back and watching, but being sidelined and watching this team, there’s so much talent on our team,” Judge said. “What [Miguel] Andujar and Gleyber Torres have been doing for us, it’s something special to watch. Not too many teams have just one rookie doing well, but we have two. It’s amazing the type of talent we got.”
MORE: Judge: Fractured wrist 'could have been a lot worse'
Judge has not played since July 26, when was struck on the right wrist by a 94 mph fastball by Royals right-hander Jakob Junis. An MRI revealed a chip fracture of the right wrist (ulnar styloid bone) and his timetable to return was estimated at three-weeks. After Thursday's 7-3 win over the Rangers, Judge confirmed that his wrist is still fractured and that there would be "discomfort for a while."
On Friday, Judge, who is slashing .285/.398/.548 with 26 home runs and 61 RBIs through 99 games, insisted that he's progressing well.
"The wrist is feeling all right, but could be better. I’m still right on track. I feel like hopefully I’ll be swinging a bat in the next couple of days, maybe next week,” he said. “We don’t have a timetable on that yet. But shortly, we should start ramping it up and get swinging again.
"It’s tough but like I said, we have a good team. That’s the one thing I heard from all my teammates when they heard about the injury and how long I’d be out. They said, ‘We got this. We’re going to keep doing our thing and hold it down till you get back.'’’
Since Judge went down, the Yankees have gone 7-6, hurt by a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox. Boston took a substantial 9.5-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East. With a sweep over the White Sox to start the week and a win over Texas on Thursday, the Yankees have won four straight and cut the deficit to eight games.
The Yankees hold the first of two AL Wild Card spots, but Judge maintained that the team's goal is to win the division for the first time since 2012.
“We’re always hunting for the division," he said. "August just started, and in August and September, a lot of crazy things have happened. For us, our goal has always been the division, it doesn’t matter how many games we’re back, we’re going to keep fighting."
The Yankees have six games remaining against the Red Sox, which could determine the AL East champion. Legendary Yankees left-hander David Wells, in attendance at Judge's meet-and-greet Friday, said a Judge return could make the difference.
"Just his presence and what he's capable of doing speaks volumes," Wells said. "He can carry a team on his back but like we had on [the Yankees World Series-winning in 1998], you need help. Whether its your pitching to help you out, guys behind you if you're not doing your job, defensively if can you do your job. That's what that guy brings."
While Judge had fun joking about his job security, he also stressed the importance of what his job in New York entails.
“I got the best job on the planet, I feel like," Judge said. "There’s only one right fielder for the Yankees. I’m blessed to be out here.”