Aaron

Aaron Judge Enters Camp Smiling, as Usual, and Healthy, for a Change

TAMPA, Fla. — Of all the possible lessons from his eventful 2018 season, one in particular stuck with Aaron Judge.

“Don’t get hit on the wrist,” Judge, the Yankees’ star outfielder, said on Tuesday as the team held its first full-squad workout of spring training. “Turn the other way.”

With the benefit of time, Judge could laugh about the 93-mile-per-hour fastball from Kansas City’s Jakob Junis that fractured his right wrist on July 26. Even though Judge returned on Sept. 14, he knew his wrist would not fully heal until the off-season.

So once he appeared in Yankees’ camp, he was beaming — for many reasons. He said he entered the winter “a little worried” about his wrist, but proclaimed on Tuesday that it was completely healthy.

“It feels like it never even happened,” he said.

That feeling is a welcome change. Last winter, he had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder and worried more about rehabilitation than improving his swing or other training. His concern over the shoulder carried over into spring training and bled into the regular season, too.

“Then going into the season trying to stay healthy, and that was a grind,” he said. “But this year, I got a chance to work on things with my swing and my approach. That’s when it gets fun.”

Before he was hit by the pitch last year, Judge, 26, was producing at a rate just below that of his 2017 season, which earned him the American League Rookie of the Year Award and a runner-up finish in the Most Valuable Player Award voting. His recovery was projected to take just three weeks, but stretched to two months. When he returned in September his power was significantly limited, but he did manage three home runs in the playoffs before the Yankees were knocked out by the Boston Red Sox in a division series.

If the Yankees are to take the next step, surpassing the Red Sox and the rest of baseball, they will need core players like Judge to be better, or healthier, versions of themselves in 2019.

Judge is perhaps the most crucial presence in the Yankees’ lineup because of his ability to draw walks and hit for extra bases: He has led the team in both on-base and slugging percentages each of the past two seasons. He finished the regular season with a .278 average plus 27 home runs, 67 R.B.I. and a .919 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

While Judge was away with the wrist injury, the Yankees’ offense slowed, hitting .235 with a .735 O.P.S. The team went 25-20 in that span.

“He’s as healthy as he’s probably been since he’s been in the big leagues,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of Judge this week. “He’s so much further ahead of the game from where he was last year.”

Some injuries are unpreventable, but Judge believes his preparation, at least, will be better entering this season of high hopes for the Yankees. While the front office bolstered the team’s bullpen and depth in the infield and outfield, they did not make a splashy free-agent signing like Manny Machado (who signed a $300 million deal with the San Diego Padres on Tuesday) or Bryce Harper.

Judge said he had no issue with that. Even with a young core of players, the Yankees fell one game short of the World Series in 2017 and won 100 games last year before being knocked out of the playoffs.

Although the exits were disappointing, Judge felt contributing players, not a big piece, were needed to make the final push over that hump. In fact, the player that Judge hoped the Yankees would sign was neither Machado nor Harper, but relief pitcher Adam Ottavino.

“That’s the one guy I watched in the off-season, I kept praying, ‘Come on, man, let’s pull the trigger,’” Judge said. “He’s got some nasty stuff.”

Ottavino, whose arsenal features a mid-90s fastball and a Frisbee-like slider, signed a three-year, $27 million deal with the Yankees in mid-January, making Judge happy. His own improved health has only made him happier.

Geraldine Aaron, 91, philanthropist and wife of Daniel Aaron, a Comcast founder

“Gerri’s philanthropy reflected her fierce belief that voices from communities, often hidden, offer riches that must be heard, embraced, nurtured, and cultivated,” said Wendy Lewis, executive director of the Parkinson Council, one of the groups Mrs. Aaron supported. “Her causes reflect a tapestry of ideas, as she delighted in rooting for the underdog.”

Film News Roundup: Aaron Paul Honored by Sun Valley Film Festival

In today’s film news roundup, Aaron Paul is honored, Bruce Berman is re-upped at Village Roadshow, and Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher get a book deal.

FESTIVAL HONORS

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The Sun Valley Film Festival has selected Idaho native and three-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul as the winner of its Pioneer Award, presented by Variety for his work in television and film on March 15.

He will attend the world premiere screening of Christopher Cantwell’s “The Parts You Lose,” in which Paul stars and also serves as a producer, and will participate in a moderated discussion about his career.

Alex Ross Perry will receive the Rising Star Award for Directing on March 16, and attend a screening of his latest film “Her Smell,” which stars Elisabeth Moss, and Fisher Stevens will receive the Snow Angel Award on March 16 and screen his film “Tigerland.” Meg Ryan will receive the festival’s Vision Award.

The festival will open on March 13 with the Sony Pictures Classics’ documentary “David Crosby: Remember My Name” with director A.J. Eaton attending, and close with the HBO documentary “Running with Beto,” directed by David Modigliani. The festival will screen premieres of the documentaries “Apollo: Missions to the Moon” and “Hostile Planet: Mountains.”

ROADSHOW RE-UPS

Village Roadshow Entertainment Group has re-upped Bruce Berman in his position as chairman/CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures after more than 20 years in the position.

Berman will retain oversight of feature film activities and collaborate with the entire development group to create content for television, streaming and emerging platforms. He will continue to report to Village Roadshow Entertainment Group CEO Steve Mosko.

The company’s upcoming films include “Joker” with Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro and “Sherlock Holmes 3” with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Previous Roadshow titles include “Sully,” “American Sniper,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Lego Movie” and the Ocean’s Eleven franchise. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

BOOK DEAL

Filmmaker Paola Mendoza and writer-performer Abby Sher have signed a book deal for an upcoming fictional book “Sanctuary,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The book is set in a futuristic world and follows 16-year-old Vali and her little brother Ernie, who are forced to flee their home, aided by an underground world of freedom fighters and human trackers after the government’s newly installed deportation force abducts their mother. The book will be released in Fall 2020 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Mendoza is a Colombian-born film director whose credits include “Entre Nos,” “Free Like the Birds” and “On the Outs.” Sher is the author of “All the Ways the World Can End” and “Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn’t Stop Praying (Among Other Things). She has also performed with The Second City. CAA reps both Mendoza and Sher.

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