The New York Yankees begin a four-game series with American League East rival the Boston Red Sox on Friday, June 5. They are without their leading-man Aaron Judge following a stress fracture in his right rib.
While the Yankees captain is only listed on the 10-day IL, Judge is expected to be out for much longer, as the team announced he will be reimaged in 4-6 weeks. Both the Yankees and Judge were awfully hush-hush about when the captain’s injury originally occurred, but many people speculated it was back in the beginning of May.
However, Judge confirmed that he believes he hurt his rib on April 27 against the Houston Astros, playing with an underlying injury for over a month.
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Aaron Judge Reveals He Injured His Rib Against the Houston Astros in April
New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge spoke to the media for the first time since the official announcement of his injury. Per Yankees’ reporter Bryan Hoch, the outfielder revealed when his injured originally occurred.
“Aaron Judge said he traces his stress fracture to a diving outfield play during the Yankees’ late April series in Houston,” Hoch wrote on X.
MLB insider Jon Heyman, furthered Judge’s statement by explaining that it happened on April 27, meaning the Yankees captain had been playing with an underlying rib injury for five weeks.
“Aaron Judge says he thinks he originally hurt his rib way back on April 27* on a dive,” Heyman wrote on X. “He continued to play but the pain became too much by the Sacramento series. He declined to provide a timetable as he finds them unreliable.”
The play in Houston is believed to be when Judge slide to avoid teammate and second baseman Jazz Chisolm, in a pop up to short right field.
The play is from the Yankees 7-4 win over the Houston Astros on April 26.
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Aaron Judge Did Not Tell Manager Aaron Boone About Injury Until Weeks Later
New York Yankees beat writer Gary Phillips, confirms that Aaron Judge did not disclose his injury with manager Aaron Boone until their series against the Athletics at the end of May. However, Yankees’ trainers were aware of his lingering injury.
Judge later reveals that the reason why he tried to play through his injury was to support the team since the Yankees are without Giancarlo Stanton and Max Fried.
“Big G’s hurt, Max Fried’s hurt,” Judge stated. “We had a lot of guys banged up. You’ve got to be out there. That’s what they’re paying me to do, to go out there and play.”
Judge’s mentality of “go out there and play” may have cost him the Yankees more than just a couple weeks on the IL. Although he is on the 10-day IL, the Yankees will be reevaluating the captain in 4-6 weeks before moving forward.
However, Judge refused to comment on an idea of what his return timeline looked like:
“I don’t like talking time tables, that stuff’s all made up, so you never know what’s going to happen,” Judge stated.
The Yankees continue their stretch with Judge in tonight’s game against the Boston Red Sox at 7:05 P.M. EST in the Bronx.
Aaron Judge Breaks Silence About Real Cause of Injury Before Red Sox Game