Judge expected back from abdominal injury Wednesday, while LeMahieu's opening-day status unclear

Updated Mar. 18, 2024 5:01 p.m. ET

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is expected to play in Wednesday night's exhibition against Pittsburgh after an eight-day layoff caused by an abdominal injury while leadoff hitter DJ LeMahieu's status for opening day is unclear because of a hurt foot.

Judge hasn’t taken batting practice on the infield or played since March 10, when he struck out in both at-bats against Atlanta. He has hit off a tee, did soft toss and taken batting practice against a pitching machine in an indoor cage.

Manager Aaron Boone described the team's approach as cautious.

“Don’t want this to turn into something realm," he said.

LeMahieu fouled a ball off his right foot on Saturday and a CT scan found no break. He will be evaluated every two to three days.

Boone said LeMahieu playing in the March 28 opener at Houston is “certainly reasonable.”

“He got a really good report from from the X-ray and CT scan,” Boone said,

LeMahieu was slowed by a right toe injury late in the 2022 season and for the first half of 2023.

“I’m not going to have him playing through anything initially," Boone said. ”I feel like that’s where you start to compensate and you start putting other parts of the body and that foot even in jeopardy. I’ve been clear with DJ on that."

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