Why Aaron Judge won’t play in the Yankees’ first spring training game

TAMPA — Aaron Judge has played in the Yankees’ first home Grapefruit League game in each of the past four years. 

But the crowd at Steinbrenner Field will not see the reigning AL MVP in Friday’s opener and instead will have to wait an extra week to watch him in action this spring, as manager Aaron Boone has circled March 1 as Judge’s likely spring debut. 

“With Aaron, now having done this nine to 10 years into his career now, what did he play, 158 games last year?” Boone said Thursday. “I just feel like I don’t want to rush him out there. Just walking through the schedule with him the other day too of, how do we build up and making sure we get a steady build with the right number of at-bats.” 

Boone also pointed to the resources the Yankees have behind the scenes, like the Trajekt pitching machine that mimics exact pitches of big leaguers, in helping Judge get ready for the start of the season. 

“I just do what I’m told,” Judge said with a laugh. “I went into [Boone’s] office, he was kind of looking at dates, he said, ‘Hey, how do you feel about [Feb.] 28 or [March] 1?’ I said, whatever you got lined up, as long as that last week I’m playing almost every day getting three, four at-bats.” 

Boone is also targeting March 1 for Austin Wells’ debut after holding the catcher out of the first week of games given the heavy workload he endured down the stretch last year.