New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Yankees captain Aaron Judge will take a huge step towards a return to play on Monday, as he is scheduled to face live pitching for the first time since suffering his stress fracture. There’s still no word on who will be throwing to Judge, though. To this point, he has faced the Trajekt machine and also took on-field batting practice on Friday. The plan is for the three-time AL MVP to return after a couple of live BP sessions, so we might see him back in the lineup this week.
CBS Sports: After hurting his right hamstring on Friday, the Yankees announced on Saturday that outfielder Trent Grisham had been placed on the injured list. Sunday brought even worse news, as the team deemed the ailment a ‘moderate’ Grade 2 strain, which makes it highly unlikely that the player will return before the end of the regular season. The 29-year-old had already spent some time on the IL in June with the same ailment, so it’s definitely a worrisome development.
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New York Daily News | Gary Phillips David Bednar’s splitter is, to put it lightly, a nasty pitch. It has held hitters to a .156 wOBA and has a 36.9 percent whiff rate. As it turns out, he learned the pitch early in his career from Japanese pitching legend Hideo Nomo, who was working with the San Diego Padres, Bednar’s team in 2017, as an instructor.
“I don’t want to say it clicked right away, but it was something I had good feel for and good confidence for early on,” said Bednar. “Obviously, that pitch helped me get to the big leagues, and it’s also helped me stay.”
The current Yankees closer said he wasn’t too familiar with Nomo’s career back then, but after watching some videos, he became enamored with the pitch and wanted to throw it. “After I learned [the splitter] from him, I went and watched the highlights, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I want that one!'” Bednar recalled.
