Aaron Judge does more tee work as Yankees head into home stretch, with Cody Bellinger also nearing return

The New York Yankees will return to their home ballpark on Friday, Aug. 21 after completing a six-game road trip, and the club’s arrival in its next series has been paired with at least one significant positive on the injury front. According to Yahoo Sports, Aaron Judge is doing more baseball work, including swinging off a tee two days in a row, a detail that points toward continued progress rather than a shutdown phase.

Judge’s progression matters because he remains one of the Yankees’ central offensive players and a long-time anchor in the team’s middle-of-the-order attack. When an impact hitter is sidelined, the lineup typically has to be adjusted in both everyday roles and late-game matchups. Even without a stated timetable in the Yahoo report, incremental baseball activity from the tee is often treated by clubs as an indicator that the next steps can include broader hitting progression.

The Yankees are also weighing another name that has been part of the team’s planning for the last stretch: Cody Bellinger. Yahoo Sports described Bellinger as “perhaps” trending toward a return as New York sets up its next phase of the schedule. That wording suggests the Yankees are not at a firm decision point yet, but it frames Bellinger as someone whose availability is moving in the right direction.

Both developments come with the practical reality that MLB injury recoveries can move quickly or stall depending on how the body responds to increasing baseball activity. A player swinging off a tee does not automatically translate into being cleared for full batting practice sessions, facing live pitching, or returning to game action. The Yankees, like all teams, generally keep that bridge cautious, using the player’s day-to-day response as the primary checkpoint.

Home stands often carry added weight for teams that are managing roster constraints. With the Yankees returning from a road trip, the immediate days can function as a measuring period: whether the club is able to integrate returning pieces into the lineup rhythm, and whether the pitching staff and defensive alignments can settle with fewer moving parts.

From a standings perspective, the second half of the season is where availability, even in small increments, can affect a team’s consistency. If Judge and Bellinger are able to resume more normal roles soon, New York would be positioned to strengthen two areas that tend to get stressed when an injury removes a cornerstone bat: run production and lineup flexibility. Conversely, any delay would likely extend the period in which the Yankees must lean on the rest of the roster.

For now, the most concrete, reported takeaway is that Judge is continuing tee work on consecutive days, a sign of forward movement in his recovery as described by Yahoo Sports. The follow-up question for the Yankees is straightforward: when does that tee-work progression advance to the next level of baseball activity, and when will the club be able to translate “doing more” into an actual return to games for both Judge and Bellinger.

As the Yankees open their next stretch at home, monitoring their game-day readiness will be key. The days immediately after Friday’s return can clarify whether these trends result in lineup reinforcements, or whether the team will continue to take time and keep expectations guarded.