Aaron Judge has taken another step towards his return from the sprained right toe that’s sidelined him since June 3, as the outfielder has begun hitting off a tee. 

Previously, Judge had been limited to playing catch in the outfield. 

According to Aaron Boone, Judge is doing “what he can tolerate” physically. 

The progress has been encouraging to hitting coach Dillon Lawson. 

“His swing looks great,’’ Lawson said. “It looks like he’s not missing anything. He’s able to turn on his back [right] foot and it doesn’t look like it’s bothering him at all.” 

There remains no timeline for Judge’s return and the All-Star break is coming, so the best case scenario is that he’s back at some point in the second half. 

Judge has yet to run full speed and will have to pass plenty of other tests before a return to the lineup is even possible. 

“It’s definitely a positive sign,’’ Lawson said. “His swing has looked exactly like it’s looked like every time he swung last year and earlier this year. I know there are progressions that have to be made, but this part of the progression looks as good as we could ever hope for.” 

The Yankees have to hope Judge is back — and his old self — at some point soon, since they entered Monday’s game against the Orioles just 11-13 in the first 24 games since Judge’s injury after opening the year 35-25. 

Lawson said losing Judge was no excuse for the current offensive woes and said he continues to have faith the lineup will right itself, even without Judge. 

“We have as high a ceiling as any team in all of baseball, but right now, we’ve got to do more,’’ Lawson said. “We have to produce more til we get healthy.” 

Lawson added, “There are no excuses for being shut out. It lands on me. I’m getting far less sleep and [doing] far more work.” 

Much of that can be pinned to the loss of Judge, who was close to his other-wordly numbers from a year ago when he went down after slamming his foot into the fence while making a superb catch at Dodger Stadium last month. 

Even without playing for nearly an entire month, Judge’s 19 homers are seven more than the next highest on the team, Gleyber Torres’ 12. 

And after putting up an MLB-best 1.111 OPS last year, the 1.078 OPS he had before he got injured would pace the league if he had enough at-bats. 

Without Judge, there’s a lot less of a threat in the Yankee lineup — no surprise in losing the player that set the American League home run record a year ago and signed a nine-year, $360 million deal in the offseason. 

For now, they are making due with decent seasons from Torres and Anthony Rizzo, but don’t have Judge to make up for the struggles of DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson. 

Jake Bauers has provided a spark and Anthony Volpe is showing signs of promise, but the offense has not found its groove overall. 

“We’re fighting to get that consistent offense, night in and night out,’’ Boone said. “We’ve got to get some guys going in the right direction. We’ve got a little steam there.”