Aaron Judge isn't back yet. But he's getting closer.
Out since the end of May, Judge's path back from a fractured rib has been slow and methodical. But we're starting to see some signs that he's picking up the pace in his rehab. He started a hitting progression last week and was cleared to take batting practice for the first time Tuesday, while also being cleared to throw up to 100 feet.
These are positive signs, though it doesn't necessarily mean Judge is on the verge of returning. He'll still have to face live pitching at least a few times before he is cleared, and the Yankees do have to balance their dwindling hopes of winning the division with their goal of having a healthy Judge for the playoffs. Which means they aren't going to rush him back.
But I do think his return could come quicker than you might think. Given Judge's experience and stature – not to mention the limited remaining minor-league schedule – there's a pretty good chance the Yankees opt to let him skip a minor-league rehab assignment. In fact, he hasn't gone on a minor-league rehab assignment since 2019, even after he missed nearly two months in 2023. He also skipped a rehab assignment when he dealt with an elbow injury in 2025, instead spending a month-plus serving exclusively as a DH as he finished the rehab process.
I suspect we'll see something like that this time around, where Judge returns as soon as he is cleared to hit, but likely spends a decent amount of time in the DH spot until he is fully ready. What does the timetable look like there? I can't say, but I would guess he's back within the next two weeks, given that he's doing batting practice by now. That doesn't mean his return is imminent right now, but there should still be enough time for Judge to make an impact down the stretch. He's coming.
Pre-game Lineup Card
Here's what you might have missed from CBSSports.com's MLB coverage in recent days:
Bullpen report. Mason Montgomery looks like he has emerged as an elite closer. Scott White takes a look at the other noteworthy bullpen situations around baseball.
Power Rankings. Can the Brewers finally exorcise their playoff demons?
Mis Business. Dayn Perry breaks down what makes Jacob Misiorowski so dominant, and it's not just the fastball.
Worst-to-first. Which of the 2026 basement dwellers could turn things around and be contenders in 2027? Matt Snyder digs into the biggest disappointments.
Hitting the Wire
The top waiver-wire targets from Tuesday's action:
Gage Jump, SP, Athletics (45%) – Jump is an awfully tough pitcher to figure out right now. He's obviously talented, and when he locks in, he's capable of brilliance, as he showed Tuesday against the Twins when he twirled 6.1 innings of two-run ball with nine strikeouts and only two walks. And he did that in Sacramento, where he has often struggled during his rookie season. And it's not like this was his first good start, or something – he had an 11-strikeout outing against a very tough Red Sox lineup just over three weeks ago. But he also allowed eight runs in 9.1 innings with four strikeouts to seven walks across two starts in between those two, so you can see the problem. I think the upside with Jump makes him worth rostering in more than just 45% of leagues, but I'll acknowledge that he comes with a ton of built-in risk. I do think that risk is worth taking on with an upcoming two-start week against the Rangers and Mariners away from Sacramento in Week 24.
Aaron Nola, SP, Phillies (75%) – Nola continued his dramatic turnaround Tuesday, limiting the Mariners to just two runs over six innings while striking out seven. He didn't quite do it the same way as in recent starts, as he actually went back to his sinker as his second-most used pitch, while his changeup dropped to 14% usage, lower than his season-long rate and much lower than where it had been recently. And it still worked for him, as the changeup and cutter complemented the curveball well, with those three pitches accounting for 11 of his 12 whiffs. As Tyler Brown noted at PhilliesNation.com Monday, the biggest change for Nola lately has been more about improved command than the arsenal changes, and that stuck Tuesday. But there's no guarantee that'll stick moving forward, so I remain skeptical about this run of success he's on, which now includes a 2.79 ERA with 36 strikeouts to 10 walks in 29 innings in August. But he's rolling right now, so continuing to play the hot hand ahead of a two-start week next week seems reasonable, if risky.
Clay Holmes, SP, Cubs (72%) – We love when a plan comes together. The theory here was simple: Holmes is one of the best groundball pitchers in baseball, and the Cubs are the best defense in baseball, even without Dansby Swanson at shortstop. And Holmes' move to the Cubs has gone about as well as anyone could have hoped, as he tossed seven shutout innings Tuesday against the Diamondbacks to give him a 1.97 ERA since joining the club. He also has just 10 strikeouts to seven walks in 23 innings in that span, so this level of success certainly isn't going to prove sustainable. But the fit with the Cubs is a good one and we're seeing it work out in action, so I think it's reasonable to roll with him heading into a two-start week next week.
Yainer Diaz, C, Astros (38%) – I want to believe Diaz is starting to turn things around. He's a former star whose complete collapse as a Fantasy contributor over the past couple of seasons hasn't come along with the kind of injuries that would help explain why he has hit such a wall. So hopefully Tuesday's game will be something for him to build on, as he went 3 for 4 with two homers, three runs, and three RBI against the Yankees. Of course, for him to be a viable waiver-wire target, the Astros would also have to reward him with more consistent playing time as a result of this game, as he has started just seven of the team's past 15 games. As much as I want to believe Diaz is going to be a difference maker down the stretch, skepticism is a reasonable reaction here.
Mickey Gasper, C, Red Sox (6%) – In yesterday's newsletter, I said Gasper is likely to be just a short-term option for the Red Sox, given the looming return from Roman Anthony from the IL. Gasper doesn't like that talk, seemingly, and he's doing everything he can to force the Sox into a tough decision. He reached base all four times he came up Tuesday, going 2 for 4 with two homers and two walks, and he is now hitting .476 in eight games since returning to the team. And it isn't an empty batting average, either, as he has homered five times and walked six times while starting seven of the past eight games. Is that enough to keep him around when the Red Sox get healthy? He's going to make it a tough decision either way, and if you're looking to stream a second catcher, there aren't many hotter than him right now.
Three Up, Three Down
Three big performances that have players trending up, and three that have the arrow pointing in the opposite direction.
Three Up
Paul Skenes finally looked (mostly) like himself
It wasn't a vintage Skenes start, but it was the closest we've gotten in a pretty long time from him. Skenes tossed six shutout innings against the red-hot Padres, his first quality start since the very first game of the second half. In five starts in between, he had a 6.46 ERA in his previous five starts, with 15 walks in 23.2 innings, and it's not like his struggles began there – he had just two quality starts in his previous 10 starts while battling across-the-board velocity drops. Well, the velocity ticked back up Tuesday, as he averaged 97.2 mph with his four-seamer, up 0.4 mph from his season average and his best mark in a start since May. It also only came with four strikeouts, so again, it was hardly a vintage Skenes start. But it was a very good one, and it might be enough to at least get confident enough in Skenes to keep him in your lineup for a key two-start week with excellent matchups against the Giants and Angels.
Ronald Acuña is running again
Acuña hasn't really looked like himself since coming back from his second hamstring injury of the season, and he's been especially cold lately, with just seven hits in his past 10 games. Given all the injuries he has suffered through over the past few seasons, it's fair to wonder if he can ever get back to being the dominant Fantasy option he's been in the past. On the other hand, he stole a base in both Sunday and Tuesday's games and had another one less than two weeks ago, with a caught stealing in there, too. That's four steal attempts in his past nine games after he had none in his first 18 games after coming off the IL. That seems like a good sign that he is starting to feel better, and while it isn't showing up at the plate – in fact, his expected wOBA over his past 50 plate appearances is a disastrous .247 – I'm taking it as a positive sign moving forward. Acuña may not be able to play his way back into first-round consideration by the end of the season, but if he's still going to be a factor on the base paths, that still gives him a path to being a difference maker overall.
Kyle Harrison looks good (but limited)
There's a "good news and bad news" aspect to the way Harrison is pitching right now. On the positive side, he seems to have stabilized, allowing just one run over his past two starts while striking out 13 and walking just three after a strong start against the Mets Tuesday, putting some of those worst-case scenario concerns from his disaster start against the Padres earlier in August to the side. The bad news? He went just five innings Tuesday and hasn't thrown more than that in a start since June 20, more than two months. Yes, there was about a month in there where he didn't pitch due to forearm tightness, but in this case, while that is explanatory, it isn't exculpatory. The Brewers haven't let him throw more than 90 pitches in a start since the injury, and with a spot in the playoffs all but guaranteed, I think they're likely to keep playing it safe with him. That won't mean a shutdown, but it will likely continue to mean shorter outings, which limit the upside. The floor here still looks awfully high, and he should be excellent on a per-inning basis down the stretch, but Harrison is likely to be just short of ace-level production if the kid's gloves treatment continues, as I suspect it will.
Three Down
Gavin Williams is as frustrating as ever
From July 9 through Aug. 2, Williams put together one of the best stretches you're likely to see from any pitcher this season, with five straight double-digit strikeout efforts. In four starts since, he has a 7.41 ERA after he failed to even make it out of the second inning Tuesday against the Angels – the Angels? – at the absolute worst possible time for it. In what has often felt like a breakthrough season for Williams, he's suddenly sitting on a 3.98 ERA, with a 3.89 xERA to back it up. As good as he can be when he is at his best, he always seems to undo it eventually, which is incredibly frustrating. And I'm not sure there's a good fix for it, because he has increased his strikeout rate and cut his walk rate this season, but at the expense of giving up a ton of hard contact, giving him the fourth -highest expected wOBA on contact out of 106 pitchers with at least 100 innings on the season. That's a trade-off that has probably made him a better Fantasy pitcher, but he still isn't quite the ace you think he can be when he's at his best.
Jacob deGrom doesn't look right
We're at the point where you expect to hear that deGrom just isn't healthy. He's had a couple of injury scares, most recently a triceps issue that forced him out of a start, and maybe that is it, because he certainly didn't look right Tuesday when he was tagged for eight runs in 3.2 innings of work against the White Sox. There was a lot of weak contact along the way, but with five walks and generally very shaky control (a lot of middle-middle fastballs, especially), it's hard to argue there was bad luck at fault here. deGrom just didn't have it here, and he now has a 6.67 ERA in seven second-half starts, with 15 walks in 29.2 innings. There have still been a few very good starts along the way, but deGrom is now up to a 4.21 ERA for the season, an unheard of number for him. He's got a two-start week coming up against the A's and Rays in Texas, so it's tempting to just keep him in your lineup, but it feels awfully risky right now.
Samuel Basallo is slumping
Though there have been some positives along the way, Basallo hasn't quite had the rookie season we were hoping for, and the low point may have come Tuesday. In a game where the Orioles pounded the Cardinals for 13 runs on 16 hits, Basallo couldn't get in on the action, going 0 for 5 with four strikeouts. You have to wonder if Basallo just isn't 100% healthy right now, since he is just 2 for 19 with eight strikeouts and zero walks since coming off the IL for a shoulder injury last week. He's still just 22 and still has a lot going for him – most notably, borderline elite quality of contact metrics across the board – but he's also struck out 27.2% of the time, with a 40.5% chase rate that puts him in pretty dangerous territory. On the whole, I'm still pretty optimistic that Basallo will be a very good Fantasy option, but he's not the slam-dunk top-12 guy we assumed he would be. Yet.
Extra Innings
Taj Bradley threw one of the best pitches I've ever seen
Is that hyperbole? Bradley tossed the first immaculate inning in Twins franchise history Tuesday, setting the A's down with three strikeouts on nine pitches in the fifth inning, and he closed it off with a stunner, a 100-mph fastball that just barely nicked the very bottom of the strike zone. It's an absolutely impossible pitch for a hitter to do anything with, and Henry Bolte did the only thing he could with it – he took it, hoping it was a ball. It was strike three. Bradley went on to allow four runs over 6.2 innings of work, giving up a couple in the sixth inning to blow the quality start bid, but he also struck out 11, so we kind of got the full Taj Bradley experience in this one – blinding brilliance and an end result that wasn't as helpful for your Fantasy team as you probably hoped.
