NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is set to join the Yankees on this week’s West Coast road trip as he continues to work his way back from a broken rib. Judge has been progressing through baseball activities — including throwing from 100 feet and taking indoor, overhand batting practice — but had not yet faced high-velocity pitching. “I’m sure he’ll be ramped up and a lot more involved in the pregame ...

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees looks on during a game against the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 9, 2026, in New York.

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America/TNS

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is set to join the Yankees on this week’s West Coast road trip as he continues to work his way back from a broken rib.

Judge has been progressing through baseball activities — including throwing from 100 feet and taking indoor, overhand batting practice — but had not yet faced high-velocity pitching.

“I’m sure he’ll be ramped up and a lot more involved in the pregame stuff,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday of the plan for Judge on the road trip.

“Hopefully out there, [Judge will] start to get on velocity and things like that, be part of the pregame stuff, and just get more entrenched into getting ready to come back.”

The Yankees are set to begin a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim on Monday, then play the Padres in San Diego over the weekend.

They have not shared a timeline for Judge to return, but with the Yankees in the thick of a playoff race, the slugger said last week that he would prefer to forgo a minor-league rehab assignment.

“Why waste at-bats?” Judge, 34, said Thursday. “Why waste anything down in a minor-league game? I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’ve got a sense of what I need to do on the field and how to manage it, so why waste at-bats in Double-A or Triple-A?”

Judge has been sidelined since May 31 due to a right rib stress fracture — an injury he suspects occurred more than a month earlier when he dove in right field during a game in Houston.

The three-time American League MVP is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and a .907 OPS in 59 games this season. In his absence, Spencer Jones and Heliot Ramos are sharing time in right field.

In 2023, Judge didn’t play in any minor-league rehab games before returning from a toe injury that had kept him out for about two months.

There are four weeks remaining in the regular season.

“I’m gonna play smart,” Judge said last week. “I’m gonna still try to go out there and make every play I can, but you gotta be smart, especially near the end of the year now. You know, if it’s Game 7 of the World Series, I’ll definitely be diving, so I don’t think that’ll ever change. But just be smart the next couple weeks as we get back, and we’ll be good.”

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