Another year, another Aaron Judge injury that the New York Yankees have to contend with.
The gargantuan slugger is dealing with what was described by manager Aaron Boone as “general soreness” on his left side, forcing him to sit out of Wednesday’s 4-3 11-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
“I was staying away from him,” Boone said. “No further development and I really didn’t have any conversations during the game about it. I’ll see what’s gone on over the last few hours, but I was going to stay away from him.
Boone added that it was “too early” to tell if he would be available for the Yankees to use in their next game Friday against the reigning AL-champion Rays in Tampa.
It’s the last thing that Judge or the Yankees wanted to be dealing with so early in the season. The 28-year-old has been hampered by injuries for the majority of his MLB career, missing a combined 142 games over the last three seasons. That includes oblique strains on both sides and one that kept him out for two months during the 2019 campaign.
Therefore, it’s understandable why Boone wanted to stay away from Judge on Wednesday — and why it wouldn’t be surprising if they exercised an abundance of caution with him in the immediate future.
Judge was off to an impressive start this season, batting .364 with two home runs and five RBI in five games.
The Yankees received another injury scare with the final out of Wednesday night’s game as starting third baseman Gio Urshela looked shaken up after being tagged out at home for the final out of the night in the 11th inning.
“He’s alright,” Boone said after Urshela laid next to home plate momentarily. “I think he kind of wrenched his neck on the tag, just whipped him in there. He seems to be okay.”
