Yankees Won't Give Aaron Judge Lineup Spot Despite Return to Camp

Fresh off a noteworthy run in the World Baseball Classic, Aaron Judge has returned to camp with the New York Yankees.

Yankees' Bryan Hoch broke the news by posting a video of The Captain back with his team, but it's worth noting manager Aaron Boone didn't include him in either of the team's March 19 lineups.

Judge may be back, but they seem to be easing him into things once again. He had a ton of at-bats during the WBC, but that doesn't mean they want to over-do it with Opening Day less than one week away.

There are a ton of big leaguers and common names as the Yankees are set for split-squad action on March 19, but Judge's exclusion from the lineups isn't as noteworthy as one would expect.

Yankees' Keeping Aaron Judge Fresh

Aaron Judge is back at #Yankees camp… pic.twitter.com/cndS25pehC
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) March 19, 2026

Judge certainly had his moments during the WBC but many also thought he let the team down, specifically in the championship game. Keep in mind, it's only mid-March and most of these hitters are nowhere near where they need to be and that's okay.

The back-to-back AL MVP seems to be in that scenario, but he was far from the only one. Team USA went ice cold in the final and was rewarded with silver medals, something a few of the players took off immediately.

Just because Judge is back at camp that doesn't mean the team needs to give him a million more reps at Spring Training. He already showed Boone and company enough during the WBC, so now it's just about resting him and getting Judge back into a bit of a rhythym and routine before Opening Day in San Francisco on March 25.

Judge Sits While Big Leaguers Continue to Play

Why have only 1 game when you could have 2? 😏#RepBX pic.twitter.com/15jDtODDAL
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 19, 2026

Plenty of big names are taking the field against the Baltimore Orioles including: Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidt, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Giancarlo Stanton, Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon, and Jose Caballero.

Their other game against the Toronto Blue Jays features more of the bench players and big league hopefuls like Amed Rosario, JC Escarria, Randal Grichuk, and Paul DeJong with Ryan Weathers getting the start.

There's a clear "A" and "B" squad in these games, but Judge is nowhere to be found. Seeing as he just returned to camp, there's still hope he plays in one of their final Spring Training games but if not there's no need to be concerned as he had a ton of notable at-bats in the WBC that should've gotten him more than prepared for the MLB's regular season.

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