Yankees Announce Aaron Judge's Spring Training Status

With the World Baseball Classic right around the corner, New York Yankees fans were wondering what they can expect out of Aaron Judge in Spring Training.

As of February 19, the team put a plan in place. Bryan Hoch noted Judge will make his debut on February 21 as the Yankees have their first home game of the season.

George Steinbrenner Field will have a chance to see Judge play in right field as he makes his Spring Training debut.

He won't play in their Spring Training opener against the Baltimore Orioles, but it's great to see him playing right away in the first weekend. After playing on the 21st, he'll return on the 22nd as the designated hitter.

February 21: Aaron Judge in Right Field

Aaron Judge will make his spring debut Saturday in RF, then DH on Sunday.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) February 19, 2026

Judge's spring debut this year will come against the Detroit Tigers as he takes the field. He might not play in right a ton this spring, but he'll have plenty of reps as part of the WBC. After all, Judge is the captain of Team USA.

Last year Judge split his time between RF and DH though he was in the field more often than not. The back to back AL MVP winner played 95 games in RF last year as he started each and every one of those.

Judge had just one error as he finished with a .995% fielding percentage. His DWAR sat at -0.5 but he was in the Top 84 percentile for Arm Value, Arm Strength, and Range (OAA).

February 22: Judge Takes Over as DH

Judge has had an OPS north of 1.000 each of his last four seasons. No one should expect him to get hundreds of at-bats this spring, but even one or two on the 22nd would be a great way to get him back into the swing of things.

The Yankees will continue to rotate who's their DH, especially throughout their 30+ games ahead of the regular season. Spring Training isn't about what Judge's batting average is, it's about getting him live at-bats against new pitchers.

Coming off a game where he will likely only play two or so innings, fans shouldn't expect Judge to have any more than two at-bats against the New York Mets. Either way, George Steinbrenner Field is in for a treat as they can't take late February Judge at-bats for granted. Soon enough, he'll be in the WBC as the Yankees unleash some new talent the rest of Spring Training.

To learn more about the Yankees from Spring Training and beyond, subscribe to All Yankees Talk, where new episodes are featured twice a week!

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!