TAMPA — The era of Aaron Judge’s Yankees captaincy is about to kick into gear.
While pitchers and catchers have been understanding at George M. Steinbrenner Field since Thursday, the remaining of the Yankees’ position players will join them on Sunday after they report for physicals, ahead of the primary full-squad workout on Monday.
It is going to be the primary time the entire team is together since Judge re-signed with the Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million deal after which was named the sixteenth captain in franchise history.
“I don’t know if it’ll change [his day to day] that much,” manager Aaron Boone said Saturday. “I do think it’s been ratcheted up a bit of bit, coupled with the incontrovertible fact that he’s here now. Nine-year deal, he knows unquestionably, that is now his home and in lots of ways, his team. I don’t think you’ll see that big of a change within the person and who he’s and the way he goes about things. But, I do think there’s that incremental step, probably, in leadership that he assumes a responsibility.”
Judge, who lives in the realm, has been a frequent visitor on the Yankees’ player development complex this offseason, including most days for the past month. Boone cited that as a way wherein he has already been leading as he heads into spring training.
The manager also said he’ll proceed to confide in Judge, even perhaps more so, when he’s considering certain things from a big-picture perspective with the team.
“I believe his leadership just gets ratcheted up a bit of bit, but I believe it’ll be fairly subtle in what it looks like,” Boone said.
Deivi Garcia threw live batting practice on Saturday afternoon as he began an important spring, perhaps his last as a Yankee. The previous top pitching prospect is out of minor league options, meaning the Yankees would should expose him to waivers if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.
The 23-year-old right-hander, who made his MLB debut in 2020, split last 12 months between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, pitching to a 6.89 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 32 walks across 64 innings.
“The important thing for him goes to be having the ability to command the strike zone at a high level,” Boone said. “That’s going to permit him to have success in the massive leagues. Then also continuing to enhance his arsenal against left-handed hitters. … For him, because he does have the unique delivery, it’s maintaining that delivery and the consistency of it to permit him to throw strikes at a high level.”
Clay Holmes, who handled back and shoulder injuries throughout the second half of last season, threw a bullpen session Saturday.
“He’s had a terrific winter,” Boone said. “He’s a employee, he’s very physical and I believe he looks really good up to now in camp.”