Yankees’ Aaron Boone Shares Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton Plan for Rays Game

Boone never said outright that Judge's "DH day" would come on Saturday, but it's fair to speculate that Judge would occupy the designated hitter spot for the same game that Stanton is confirmed to have off.

The Yankees understandably are taking a measured approach with Stanton, now 36 years old, as the right-handed slugger played in just 77 games last season. In those 77 games, however, he clobbered the ball: in just 281 plate appearances, Stanton hit 24 home runs and drove in 66 runs with a .944 OPS.

On a rate basis, it was his strongest offensive performance since joining the Yankees; more importantly, it completely changed the offensive equation for the team as Stanton was largely a non-factor in the three seasons prior to 2025.

All of this is to say that keeping Stanton healthy is paramount to the Yankees' success, which is already evident by his .341 batting average and .836 OPS through the first eleven games of the season.

It seems that the Yankees plan to give Stanton a day off approximately once a week, seeing as how the designated hitter sat out the sixth game of the season and will sit again for the thirteenth.

Judge has been remarkably healthy in recent years, but the Yankees no doubt would love to get him off his feet on days where Stanton is out of the lineup. Assuming Saturday is Judge's "DH day", it will be his first appearance at the position this season.

The 33-year-old played 56 games as the DH in 2025 and dominated at the plate, hitting 20 home runs and posting a 1.082 OPS across 253 plate appearances as the DH.