{"id":473039,"date":"2026-02-17T03:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473039\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T03:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:02:08","slug":"yankees-aaron-judge-feels-hes-in-the-clear-after-elbow-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473039\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees&#8217; Aaron Judge feels he&#8217;s in the clear after elbow recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA \u2014 Aaron Judge felt helpless at times late last season as he stood in right field knowing that his arm was not at full strength.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees right fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/06\/sports\/yankees-aaron-judge-insists-hes-healthy-enough-for-outfield\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was coming back from a flexor strain in his right elbow<\/a> and, after strictly DHing for the first month off the injured list, returned to the field in September trying to do the best with what he had.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was the toughest thing for me last year, was the pitcher\u2019s working his butt off and the guys around me are working their butt off and then the ball\u2019s hit to me and I had no shot [to throw a runner out],\u201d Judge said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>But his arm began to look more like itself in October and now, four months later, Judge is feeling back to normal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s feeling great,\u201d Judge said after the first full-squad workout of spring training. \u201cHaven\u2019t had any issues so far. I think we\u2019re ready to go. I\u2019m throwing out there confident. I\u2019ve thrown to bases a couple times already, so no worries. Just excited to get back out there and have the confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.40659341;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38512279\" width=\"830\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/99-catches-ball-front-new-121419730.jpg\" alt=\"New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge catches a ball in front of center fielder Trent Grisham during spring training.\" class=\"wp-image-38512279\"  \/>Aaron Judge prepares to catch a ball during the Yankees\u2019 spring training session Feb. 15. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n<p>After taking about two weeks off from throwing at the start of the offseason, Judge began his throwing program earlier than usual on the advice of the Yankees training staff. <\/p>\n<p>Once he got to long tossing and could \u201creally let it go,\u201d he felt like he was in the clear.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66503906;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38512283\" width=\"392\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/99-throwing-ball-today-s-121427933.jpg\" alt=\"Aaron Judge throwing a baseball at Yankees Spring Training in Tampa, Florida.\" class=\"wp-image-38512283\"  \/>Aaron Judge makes a throw during the Yankees\u2019 Feb. 15 workout at spring training. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe training staff did a great job, they were really the ones pushing for, \u2018Let\u2019s have you throw all offseason,\u2019\u201d said Judge, who <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/15\/sports\/yankees-have-grapefruit-league-plan-for-aaron-judge\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will leave camp in just under two weeks<\/a> to play right field for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n<p>About nine months removed from breaking his ankle and suffering ligament damage on a brutal slide home in Seattle, Oswaldo Cabrera is feeling good and took live batting practice Monday.<\/p>\n<p>But there are evidently still barriers for the utility player to clear in order to be ready to start the season on time, with manager Aaron Boone indicating that it depends on how he looks over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll take a little time before we get him into [Grapefruit League] games, but the fact that he\u2019s doing everything now is encouraging,\u201d Boone said. \u201cHopefully, he can continue to get that last layer of maneuverability and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Volpe was scheduled to begin his hitting progression Monday, the latest milestone in his rehab from October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The shortstop was set to take dry swings in the training room, Boone said, though he has been able to take ground balls and throw without issues.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan McMahon was held out of the first full-squad workout because of flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees outrighted Yanquiel Fern\u00e1ndez to Triple-A, after designating him for assignment last week, and invited the outfielder to big league camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Aaron Judge felt helpless at times late last season as he stood in right field knowing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[4260,363,369,99,63077],"class_list":["post-473039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-aaron-judge","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports","tag-spring-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}