Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) is close to returning from an extended injury layoff.

“He threw five innings in simulated conditions at our ballpark in Tampa, Florida (Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees’ spring training home),” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Saturday.

He batted, played defense, and ran the bases.스포츠토토

MLB.com took this to mean that “Judge has made some progress in his return from injury.” Two days earlier, on April 24, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who watched him bat live, said he would “get more at-bats in a simulated game, the final step before his return.”

Judge left a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 4 with a big toe injury while playing defense. The injury was later confirmed as a torn toe ligament, which was more severe than initially thought.

He recently began running drills and threw a live at-bat for the first time since the injury on April 24. He faced 16 pitches from pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga. “The pain in my toe is not completely gone, but I’m recovering well,” Jersey said after the workout.

“The Yankees have not yet decided whether to activate him after his minor league stint, but manager Aaron Boone is not ruling out the possibility of using him in a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles beginning April 29,” MLB.com reported. The Yankees, who slipped to a tie for fourth place in the American League East with the prestigious Boston Red Sox, are currently nine games behind division leader Baltimore.

Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees after hitting an American League-leading 62 home runs last year. He led the league in home runs again this season, but lost the lead to Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) while he was out with an injury. In 49 games this season, he batted .291 with 19 home runs, 40 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.078.