Is Aaron Judge playing today against the Pittsburgh Pirates? | February 2, 2023 | MLB Spring Training

Aaron Judge played for the New York Yankees during Spring Training on Wednesday. He went 0-2 during his time before being removed from the game. Stars like Judge don't play as much during spring because they already have established positions and don't need to risk injuries.

Is Aaron Judge playing today? It would be a surprise to see the slugger in the starting lineup back to back days, and it appears the Yankees aren't taking any risks.

The lineup for today's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates has been released, and Judge is not patrolling right field. He's not even starting.

Here's the full lineup for today's action:

1. Anthony Volpe, 2B
2. Oswaldo Cabrera, 3B
3. Aaron Hicks, DH
4. Jose Trevino, C
5. Oswald Peraza, SS
6. Rafael Ortega, LF
7. Michael Hermosillo, CF
8. Jake Bauers, 1B
9. Estevan Florial, RF

Former top prospect Estevan Florial will man right field instead of Judge and Aaron Hicks will be the DH, so Judge likely gets a day off. Since spring games don't really matter, a pinch-hit appearance would be extremely unlikely.

Despite no Judge, there's plenty to watch in today's action. Oswaldo Cabrera, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza are all playing.

Any one of them could be the Opening Day starting shortstop, so this could be a big game for each of them. It could be their opportunity to differentiate themselves from the rest.

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Will Aaron Judge hit 60 home runs again?

Aaron Judge shocked the world by blasting a new American League and franchise record 62 home runs in 2022 en route to a near-unanimous MVP award. A repeat of that caliber is unlikely.

Aaron Judge won't make history again

Only a handful of players in the history of baseball have ever topped 60 home runs, so doing it twice in a row is very unlikely.

Additionally, now that pitchers know what happens if you throw strikes to Judge, they're far less likely to give him anything good to hit. He'll probably walk a lot and he will hit home runs, just not 60 or more.

He'll be among the league leaders in that category, but breaking records is probably not on the cards.