Aaron Judge takes on-field batting practice in enormous Yankees step

SAN DIEGO — At long last, there was Aaron Judge on the field at Petco Park on Friday, taking swings in the cage for all to see.The back-to-back American League MVP downplayed the significance of taking on-field batting practice for the first time in his rehab process, but he acknowledged that it marked the latest box he checked off, with not many left before he could return to the Yankees, as soon as next week.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

Judge, who started taking indoor batting practice about 10 days ago as he comes back from a right rib stress fracture, stepped in the box for four rounds of swings with his teammates and did not appear to be limited in how he was moving.There is a measured pace to his batting practice even when he is not rehabbing an injury, but he looked smooth as he sprayed baseballs around the outfield.“We’re hitting all the baseball stuff — throwing to bases, throwing, running the bases, hitting, getting on the field, moving around,” Judge said after finishing up.

“I think just facing some live pitching [is next] and then we’ll get back out there.”Judge is not expected to have a chance to face live pitching until the Yankees return home on Monday — could Clarke Schmidt veer from his rehab assignment and face Judge on the off day to kill two birds with one stone? — but he guessed he would need to do that “a couple times” before being cleared to return.He hit off the Trajekt (a machine that simulates big leaguer’s pitches) last weekend and has faced high-velocity pitching machines in the cage during this road trip.“He’s been hitting a lot now in the cage, pretty intense,” manager Aaron Boone said.

“It’ll be good to see him out here — it’s one of the boxes, I guess, but he’s done more behind the scenes already than hitting BP.”The captain reiterated his desire to skip a rehab assignment and...