Slugger Aaron Judge is not on the New York Yankees’ roster for their American League wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox, multiple media outlets reported.
The Yankees have not confirmed the news ahead of Game 1 of their best-of-three series on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Judge has been sidelined since Sept. 16 with a strained right calf. The three-time AL MVP returned to the lineup for seven games on Sept. 8 after missing more than three months with a fractured rib.
Judge, who took batting practice Monday, said he did his best to make his case to be included on the roster.
“I’ve been doing a lot of convincing,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to keep doing that. But I think the most important thing is just making sure I’m healthy and ready to go for this long stretch.
“We got another month of baseball to play so I want to be ready for the long run we’re going to go on here for this next month. We’re all going to be smart, but I think they all know I want to be out there, especially that first game.”
Judge was largely ineffective before the calf injury, batting .174 (4-for-23) with a homer and three RBIs in seven games.
In 66 games overall this year, the outfielder batted .241 with a .360 on-base percentage, a .511 slugging percentage, 18 homers and 41 RBIs.
