Aaron Judge progressing toward September return to Yankees' lineup

Pausing to watch Aaron Judge’s indoor batting practice, Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw about a half-dozen swings.

“That’s Aaron Judge,’’ Boone said he thought to himself. “It was encouraging.’’

Speaking at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, Judge told reporters that he feels “great,’’ nearly three months after landing on the injured list with a fractured first right rib.

Judge remains hopeful of a sometime-in-September return to the Yankees’ lineup.

And the slugging Yankee captain’s personal satisfaction with where he’s at physically is “one reason why we’re kind of speeding through this and really doing more outside’’ and “in the cages,’’ Judge told reporters, including MLB.com.

“Now it’s about…trying to get my volume back up since I haven’t played in quite a long time.’’

Judge hasn’t been in the Yanks’ lineup since May 31, but he’s hoping to avoid being sent on a minor league rehab assignment.

“When we get to that point, we’ll work through all that,’’ Boone told reporters, adding there are “also creative ways’’ of simulating at-bats.

At that point in Judge’s rehab, “we’ll make that decision collectively,’’ said Boone.

Judge began taking regular “dead-arm’’ batting practice, thrown by a coach, this week. The next steps should be hitting off velocity, off the Trajekt machine, and in live BP.

“Just knowing that he’s feeling good, too,’’ is Boone’s greatest takeaway. “The biggest thing, again, is not so much even the injury, but building the body up to handle the rigors again.

“Because (he was) down for a month-and-a-half and not doing much of anything other than riding a (stationary) bike.’’

Judge has also been throwing from about 100 feet on the field and running, and he expects to be a right fielder – not a part-time DH – when he returns.

Since the Yanks’ acquisition of lefty-hitting first baseman Luis Garcia Jr., one of the team’s hottest hitters, Ben Rice has assumed the regular DH role.

Overall, whenever Judge is ready to return, “my expectation is that he’s going to be Aaron Judge,’’ Boone said earlier this week.

Defensively, “I don’t expect him to be diving or things like that,’’ though Boone acknowledged the general risk that comes with being a full-time player.

“But we’re not going to put him out there…if he’s not ready to go.’’

Judge told reporters his vow to “be smart’’ defensively, especially with the postseason looming.

But in a critical postseason game, if the situation presents itself, “I’ll definitely be diving’’ in right field. “I don’t think that’ll ever change.’’

As for wanting to avoid a rehab assignment, Judge asked reporters: “Why waste at-bats’’ in a minor league game?

“I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’ve got a sense of what I need to do on the field and how to manage it.

Diagnosed late Wednesday with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz will seek a second medical opinion.

Cruz is scheduled to visit Dr. Keith Meister, who was also due to examine fellow Yanks’ right-handed reliever Kervin Castro (elbow neuritis), transferred Wednesday to the 60-day IL.

On Thursday, Cruz told reporters he’d been dealing with some degree of elbow discomfort for the past few weeks but tried to pitch through it.

Right-hander Clarke Schmidt begins a minor league rehab assignment Saturday, with the idea of being a Yankees’ bullpen option by late September.

Schmidt has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and a more recent forearm cramp.

Veteran lefty Max Fried (elbow bone bruise) was due to throw a bullpen session Thursday, and he’s in play to come off the IL and start one of the doubleheader games Saturday vs. Boston.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Aaron Judge progressing toward September return to Yankees' lineup