Yankees have no plans to move Aaron Judge from outfield

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone shot down any notion that the team has thoughts of moving Aaron Judge from the outfield.

New York Yankees outfield Aaron Judge is hoping to be ready for Opening Day, whenever that will be. The topic of potentially moving Judge from the outfield came up on The Michael Kay Show last week, but manager Aaron Boone shot it down quickly.

Dealing with injuries over the last few seasons, it has been rough for Judge. Most recently, he has been recovering from a stress fracture in his rib. That stress fracture also led to a partially collapsed lung, of which Judge has recovered from. However, the topic of moving Judge from right field to first base came up.

Boone shot down that notion immediately while reaffirming their feelings for Judge as a defender.

“No, no, no, no,’’ Boone via George King of The Post. “Sometimes when a guy has a few injuries and significant injuries, sometimes there is an unlucky, fluke thing. You are playing major league sports and injuries come with it.’’

This would be an odd move for the Yankees. Judge is an elite defender in right field and helps the Yankees far more than he hurts them. Moving him to first base simply because he’s been dinged up lately doesn’t make any sense. It would make the defense far worse while moving Judge to a position he doesn’t have experience.

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Boone backed up his thoughts by reaffirming Judge’s elite status in the mind of the coaching staff.

“He has had a couple of unfortunate injuries the last couple of years, but moving him? Absolutely not,’’ Boone said. “He is an elite defender and one of the game’s great players. Never a discussion to move him.’’

The biggest aspect of Judge’s defense likely comes with his arm. He covers a lot of range for a big guy, but his arm is incredible. Being 6-foot-7 and 280 pounds helps with strength, but Judge’s accuracy is uncanny—especially when he takes the one-hop off the right-field wall and fires a missile to second base.

Some think that moving a player to first base is a cure-all—despite that position being incredibly difficult in its own right. Judge won’t be moving from right field so now the focus is getting him healthy for whenever opening day might be.