 we've seen you back out on the field. When did that rib injury start to feel better well enough that you were able to swing? Hey Meredith, yeah like you said it's been a while. Good to see you guys. It's been quite a, it's been a couple weeks, a month or so you know I've been able to swing and we were getting our work done in in Tampa. You know I was still able to go into the facility and you know getting the cages, get on a field every once in a while, so it feels good to be back on the field. You know I was you know kept inching, trying to you know kind of push them on the regiment a little bit on what we could do because you know my body was feeling great and you know I know we had a limited time to you know get ready for the season because we never knew when it was gonna when it was gonna start. So yeah it's been about a couple weeks, a month. I'm not too sure to be honest. The days you know kind of blend together during quarantine. In your mind is that a thing of the past? Are you are you still monitoring that? I'm getting ready. I got told you guys in spring training I was gonna be ready for opening day so now I'm feeling good. I'm not really you know the biggest thing now is just getting the reps in you know because I missed so many at bats in the spring training we had. I didn't get all the reps and I'll feel the reps on the basis so for me right now it's just about getting my timing back in in the game and just getting my game ref so we can you know go out there for these 60 games. So early on in the process it's only been a couple days but how do you feel at the plate right now just seeing live pitching again? Really good really good. I feel like my eyes you know seeing the ball well, seeing it out of the hand well. I'm trying to make good contact but that's what you know we got a pretty tough pitching staff out there so these next couple weeks are gonna be tough but we're looking forward to you want to face the best so we got the best and it's gonna be fun a couple of weeks. Thank you. We'll take the next question from James Wagner. James go ahead and unmute. Hey Aaron how's it going? Hope you and the family are doing well. Just quick two questions one if it was any consideration for you or was it at all to play this season given you know the health risks. Secondly of all the things you have to go through this year they're you know changing your behavior whether it's like you know not going to a restaurant on the road not spitting no access to the video room what has been what do you see the hardest what has been the hardest so far to get used to? What's going on James good to see you. There's never a doubt in my mind of opting out you know we went over the risk went over everything you know with my family staying in California you know they're going to try to watch every game they can and I'm ready to go you know I really don't want to opt out and then the challenges like you said there's a lot of you know rules a lot of regulations can't do this can't do that but you know kind of what we talked with the team about is hey fellas we got we got four months four months to lock it in four months to you know go through everything do the procedures keep everybody safe you know hold hold off on you know you know going out or you know go into places just be smart and that's the biggest thing we kind of talk to everybody about which is being smart and holding each other accountable you know during these times we got four months to go out there and you know win a championship and you know we want everybody on the field you know so it's just you know we can you know you can spit and chew some flour seeds and go out to a restaurant and you know once this is all over with thank you thanks James we could take the next question from Eric Boland Eric go ahead and unmute Aaron thanks for thanks for coming in tonight you said there is really no hesitation in terms of committing to play do you feel 100 safe do you feel that you're taking any kind of a risk pipeline hey Eric um yeah yeah there's obviously a risk you know with anything you know just you know walking outside there's a risk you know leaving your apartment there's a risk you know it's there's risk everywhere but I just you know I love this game and I love the team that we got here and the opportunity we have here even though it's 60 games and I just can't wait to get it started you know but that's where we kind of talked to the team and we talked with each other really about just hammering and being accountable for each other you know watching out for each other you know making sure you wash your hands make sure you're wearing your mask making sure you're you know doing the things so that everybody stays healthy and stays on the field thanks Aaron take the next question from Marley Marley if you can unmute please Aaron thank you very much for joining us tonight it's good to see you Aaron obviously last year even with all the record setting injuries you guys were two games away to make to the world series this year even though we're in a pandemic and with a shorty season you've had a lot of time to get healthy you know not only you Aaron Hicks you know James Faxman what can the Yankees do a fully healthy roster in a 60 game season hey Marley that's a that's a good question you know um you know I'm to be honest I'm not quite sure and there's a lot of unknowns like you said we had a lot of guys missing time and haven't really had our whole squad together you know for you know full season but I think that's what kind of motivates this team is the unknown of not you know we don't how good how good could we be you know what how special could this team be so I think it's that unknown that really motivates us to go out there and say hey guys let's the next four months go out there and you know put a good season together and you know show them what we got in the middle of this terrible thing do you kind of see it as a silver lining that you guys had over this time to get healthy yeah selfishly you know selfishly like I said I was kept telling you guys in spring training in February that I'd be ready for opening day and I haven't lied to you guys yet so but it was you know it was sad to you know kind of see the world without sports for a while and it was tough on a lot of people and but it's I'm just glad that we're starting to get things back and hopefully we can continue to continue to play and finish the season thank you we'll take a few more Sweeney Sweeney Murdy go ahead and unmute you can ask a question hey Aaron by the time I'm sure you've seen schedule at least part of it it just came out by the time you guys take the field on July 23rd it's going to be what 10 months since you last played a game what are the challenges of then playing 60 games in 66 days you know the idea of conditioning for that sprint yeah Sweeney it's um well that's where these you know a couple of months off are so important you know that's why you know a lot of us on the team we're checking in with each other hey what are you guys doing you know making sure you're still throwing making sure the pitchers are still staying on the routine you know making sure the hitters are getting their swings and it's not you know go out there do your you know full routine like you would during the season but just but just stay moving I think that's what we did collectively as a team really well is everybody was staying in shade everybody's ready to go just kind of chomping at the bits you know so that's you know the biggest thing is you know what you did what we did these past four months it's not really about what we did right now it's actually what we did you know from you know March all the way till now is what's really gonna you know separate us I think from teams we'll take a final question from Brendan Cutty Brendan go ahead Aaron thank you for taking the time tonight I hope you well um on Thursday you faced Gary Cole he's pitching again tomorrow night you've seen a bunch in the past but just what was it like on Thursday facing him here at Yankee Stadium and just how good how special could he be for you guys like I said I think I talked to you guys name in the offseason when spring training started about you know when we acquired Gary Cole I think I think me and a lot of guys on the team probably the whole team were just looking at our phones checking our phones every single day trying to see the updates who is signing with who he's going with and he's something special you know it was fun facing him on Thursday and that's the first you know live VP I had and quite a few months so to see the best in the game was was was pretty fun you know just right out of the gates but man he's just he's such a competitor you know even checking in with them and he's throwing 99 you know a couple weeks ago during his you know bullpence he's throwing at home he's you know hitting 99 hitting the spots you know he's throwing four or five innings man he's just he's a bulldog you know and that's the type of guy you want leading your staff the guy's gonna go out there every five days and demand the ball and go out there and you know get wins for you and it's just a fierce competitor I think I when I stepped in the box you know the facing the first time I try to give him a little hey gee how's it going he just looked right through me man so that's that shows you what type of competitor he is and doesn't matter if it's practice or live dp or the game and he's he's the real deal so I'm excited to see him out there in a pinstripes in Yankee stadium soon