Brian Cashman still unsure when Aaron Judge will return to Yankees

Those waiting on a time frame of any kind for Aaron Judge’s return from the IL didn’t get any help  from Brian Cashman Tuesday.

“Wish I did,” the Yankees general manager said before his team started a three-game series against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium. “It’s a unique injury. The most important thing we need to do is make sure that he’s healed when we start to deploy him. Because we don’t want this thing to come back on us at any point because [he] wasn’t 110% ready to go.”

Judge has been out since suffering a right big toe sprain on June 3, when his foot bashed into the cement base of the bullpen door in right field while making a running catch on a J.D. Martinez drive at Dodger Stadium.

Judge received a PRP ( platelet-rich plasma) into one tendon of the toe on June 6 and received another, in a second tendon, last Thursday.

Aaron Boone said over the weekend in Boston Judge was in plenty of pain in the days after the second injection but feels there’s been significant improvement since.

“I’m encouraged by what I’m seeing, just my conversations with him,” Boone said Tuesday. “And I feel like he feels like there’s been a little bit of a breakthrough with that [after the second shot]. He’s been slowly doing better and able to do more things. Hopefully, that was the start of him making some good progress.”

Judge is known behind the scenes – as was the player he’s most compared to, Derek Jeter – as one of those players who has to be hit with a sledgehammer to be kept out of the lineup.

“We need to be really careful because he’s a real devoted athlete. He wants to be out there fighting for his team, fighting for our fans and that’s where missteps can take place,” Cashman said. “You have to protect the player from (himself). He wants to get out there as soon as he practically can, but he’s got to be smart and we have to be smart about it. Timeframe, (I) have no clue yet. I do know he’s getting better and he’s improving. Those are all encouraging signs. But we’re not in a position to speculate on a timeframe yet.”

Bader back

Harrison Bader, out since May 30 with a right hamstring strain, returned to the lineup Tuesday, starting in center and batting sixth.

“Just excited to get him back and what he means to us in the center of the diamond,” Boone said. “And the threat he’s proven to be in the box, from a power standpoint, from a speed standpoint. He’s a very dynamic, athletic player and a real anchor for us defensively and excited to get him back.”

Bader went 1-for-3, stole a base and scored ahead of Billy McKinney’s second-inning home run.

Tall task

Victor Wembanyama, the 7-4, 19-year-old center from France who is expected to be taken No. 1 overall by San Antonio in the NBA Draft on Thursday night, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday. Wembanyama, wearing a pinstriped jersey with the No. 5 on the back, threw outside and low to Clarke Schmidt, who received the pitch.