New York Yankees fans in the bleachers in right field will call out Aaron Judge’s name during roll call on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium as they have hundreds of times before over the last nine years.
But Judge will be in a different spot this time around for the first time in his career.
The captain is starting in left field in Thursday’s series finale against the Twins.
This won’t be Judge’s first big-league action in left field. He started three games in Baltimore’s expansive left field during a series against the Orioles earlier this season.
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But he’s never played left at Yankee Stadium in a game. Just right and center.
Verdugo’s absence in the lineup raised some red flags after he crashed into the left field wall on Wednesday night, making a spectacular catch to rob Twins outfielder Byron Buxton of extra bases. Yankees manager Aaron Boone insisted that it’s just a day for the left fielder, who has been the best defender at his position this season in all of baseball (with plus-9 defensive runs saved).
“Just felt like it was a good day to get him,” Boone said. “Got with him last night, said I’m thinking of having you down. So kind of want to keep Grish in there in the mix. We’re in this stretch of 13 days where we got some nighttime travels and things like that, so want to make sure that whether it’s a DH day for Juan or a couple of DH days for Judge or something, I just want to make sure we’re mindful of that through this stretch.”
“Part of it is that inactivity and getting used to that as an everyday player,” Boone explained. “But again, that doesn’t mean you can’t come in and be a spark where his patience and power can play. In that small sample, he hasn’t got a lot going offensively.
You can attribute it to that, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean he can’t go out and have an impactful game for us tonight. A lot of his games where he has gotten in there, I feel like he’s been close. You can see his eye at the plate come into play, he’s getting into deep counts, hasn’t finished off a couple of at-bats where he’s had a chance to either get on. But he’s got that power and that patience and when he goes into center, it’s elite out there. Hopefully he can give us a little spark tonight at the bottom.”
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