Yankees' Aaron Judge 'Getting Close' to Return from Toe Injury, Aaron Boone Says

As the New York Yankees continue to flounder, there appears to be some good news involving Aaron Judge.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Tuesday the reigning AL MVP is "getting close" to returning, and he didn't rule out July 25 against the New York Mets as a potential target date.

Judge has been out of action since June 3 when he injured his toe crashing into the fence while making a catch in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Judge told reporters on June 24 he suffered a torn ligament in his right big toe and was experiencing pain while walking.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about Judge potentially returning, though nothing definitive. He started doing some baseball activities on June 28 prior to a game against the Oakland Athletics.

The five-time All-Star took batting practice on the field and did some running prior to Friday's series opener against the Colorado Rockies, per Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.

It's not an overstatement to say the Yankees desperately need Judge back as soon as possible. They were 35-25 with a .316 weighted on-base average through June 3.

Since June 4, the Yankees are 15-20 in 35 games with a .291 weighted on-base average. Only the Pittsburgh Pirates (.284) and Kansas City Royals (.278) have a lower wOBA than New York during this span.

Judge, despite not playing in six weeks, still leads the team with 19 homers and 40 RBI. He has a .291/.404/.674 slash line in 175 at-bats this season.

The Yankees are in last place in the AL East with a 50-45 record. They are 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros for the final wild-card spot and nine games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the division.