NEW YORK — Aaron Judge has not played in a baseball game since May 31. He would like his next one to come in the major leagues.

The Yankees superstar, currently progressing through baseball activities after being sidelined by a stress fracture in his first right rib, said that he is “hoping not to do a rehab [assignment]” on Thursday. The way Judge sees it, he doesn’t want to fire any bullets in games that don’t count.

“I didn’t rehab in 2023 when I missed probably the same amount of time,” Judge said, though he actually missed less than two months with a broken toe that year. “Why waste at-bats? Why waste anything down in a minor league game? I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’ve got a sense of what I need to do on the field and how to manage it, so why waste at-bats in Double-A or Triple-A?”

Judge also said that he’s not expecting “much of a fight” from the Yankees when it comes to that preference.

“I feel like if I tell them I’m ready to go play, I think we’re ready to go play,” he said. “I’m not a pitcher. I’m a position player. I can get my reps down here in the cage.”

Judge noted that he can also hit off the Yankees’ Trajekt machine as he looks to get his timing back. He may even get live at-bats against some of the team’s injured pitchers who could be rehabbing in the coming days and weeks.

Asked about Judge’s desire to avoid the Somerset or Scranton Shuttles, Aaron Boone said that the Yankees’ captain has shared his thoughts with the manager, too.

“The biggest thing sometimes with rehabs is just building guys up and getting them used to playing and stuff,” Boone said. “There’s also creative ways of doing that too, though. So as we get closer to that point, we’ll make that decision collectively.”

So far, Judge has run; thrown from more than 100 feet; and hit off a tee, soft toss and overhand batting practice in the cage. He had only faced overhand BP once at the time of his Thursday afternoon scrum, taking about 15 swings.

“I stopped and watched half-a-dozen swings or so,” Boone said of the overhand session, which occurred Tuesday. “It’s like, ‘That’s Aaron Judge.’ So it was encouraging.”

But Judge still has some boxes to check before returning, even if he does skip a rehab assignment. Most notably, he’s yet to face high velocity.

Never one to provide a timeline for an injury, Judge said “a couple weeks ago” and “a couple months ago” when asked when he’d like to be back.

“Tomorrow, if I can, but I don’t know if they’ll let me,” he continued. “Hopefully, here soon. We’re progressing, so I’m trying to speed through this, do it the right way so we don’t have any setbacks, but everything’s looking good so far.”

Judge added that he’s experienced some general soreness as he’s ramped up, but he hasn’t felt pain in his rib since being cleared for baseball activities.

The back-to-back MVP also said that he hasn’t undergone more imaging since early August, when scans revealed that his rib still had some healing to do. Instead, he said he’s going off how “great” he feels.

“That’s why I was hesitant about getting a scan in the first place, because usually they base everything off that,” Judge said. “But I was kind of like, ‘Let’s base it off how I feel, and if I’m feeling good, why can’t we keep progressing?’ So we’ll just keep progressing.”

Still, the Yankees will have to be cautious with Judge to some degree whenever he returns. For example, Boone recently said that while he plans on using Judge in right field, the skipper doesn’t expect the All-Star to dive on defense.

Judge seemed on board with that protocol on Thursday, though he left himself some wiggle room.

“I’m gonna play smart,” Judge said. “I’m gonna still try to go out there and make every play I can, but you gotta be smart, especially near the end of the year now. You know, if it’s Game 7 of the World Series, I’ll definitely be diving, so I don’t think that’ll ever change. But just be smart the next couple weeks as we get back, and we’ll be good.”

The Yankees will live with whatever limitations Judge has on defense, just like they did last year when his throws were initially restricted following a flexor strain.

It’s his bat that they need at full capacity, or close to it, as the Yankees, despite some recent outbursts, have had one of the worst offenses in baseball since losing Judge.

In addition to his timing, eyes will be on Judge’s power and bat speed — his swing averaged 76.1 mph before going on the IL — given the location of his injury. However, he said he hasn’t spoken to doctors about what he should expect in that regard.

“I think we won’t really see until we get out there in some games and stuff,” Judge said, “but I’m not too worried about the power or bat speed because I feel like even if it’s a tick off, it’s still better than nothing.”

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