The Yankees and Aaron Judge got the results back from re-imaging over the All-Star break and the slugger’s ribs have not healed enough for him to resume baseball activities.
“We’re still waiting on one more doctor to take a look at it. Kind of see how we progress forward the next couple weeks, but it’s definitely a positive sign,” Judge said before Friday’s series opener with the Dodgers.
Judge had the re-imaging done Wednesday, but the organization is waiting for Dr. Gregory Pearl to give his opinion on the next steps. Judge is hopeful they’ll learn more by the time Friday’s game is over or on Saturday.
When asked whether the doctors need to see full healing before he can start baseball activities or whether it’s about pain tolerance, the reigning MVP gave his take, but ultimately said he’s going to follow what the doctors say.
“I think it’s more of once we see it kind of healing all the way through, I think part of it’s healing, the other part of it’s still trying to bridge together,” Judge said. “So I think that’s what we’re trying to wait and see if we can kind of get some confirmation of what we can start doing.
“I’m going to wait for the doctors to tell us what to do and what they see when they look at it, but I think it’s some positive news.”
Judge did say he has no reason to believe he won’t play this season, saying “I don’t see why not.”
But he confirmed that he has not started any sort of activities. Everything he has done is just lower-body and conditioning.
Judge said he’s feeling “10 times better” since injuring his ribs on a dive in the outfield back in April, and is itching to start doing baseball activities, but the organization is being cautious with their captain. He doesn’t believe he’ll need a spring training-style ramp-up — he said he hates “wasting at-bats” in a rehab game — but once they hear back, he’ll discuss with the organization on next steps.
Prior to the injury, Judge was slashing .248/.375/.533 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI in 59 games.
The Yankees have been up and down since Judge landed on the IL. They enter play Friday with a 54-42 record, overcoming a 5-15 stretch, and are now riding a four-game winning streak.
It’s a stark difference from the 2023 season when Judge broke his toe slamming into a wall at Dodger Stadium, which cost him 45 games and the Yankees their season.
Manager Aaron Boone believes this year’s team is different despite Judge’s absence.
“We weren’t as good a team then,” Boone said. “We weren’t equipped to handle that and feel like we are much more equipped now with some of our depth and some of our young players that are now integral parts of the team.
“And I think outside of the 10-game stretch where we’re terrible, for the most part, we have played well and better than when that happened in ’23.”
A big part of the Yankees’ resilience has been Paul Goldschmidt‘s revival, Cody Bellinger‘s consistency and the emergence of Ben Rice. All of whom Judge credits as part of what’s kept the team afloat.
“It’s been tough, but we got a lot of great guys in this clubhouse have been holding their own and kind of carrying the weight of this team,” Judge said of not playing. “Goldie, Belli, what they’ve been doing; Ben Rice has been… It’s been fun to watch, but that’s been tough sitting on the sidelines.”
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