Aaron Judge will be back in the Yankees’ lineup for Wednesday night’s intra-squad game, returning from a stiff neck that scratched him on Saturday and has sidelined him for a few days.
That said, it is noted that Judge’s injury history causes concern, especially in fans’ eyes, any time any little thing pops up when it relates to the right fielder’s health – so much so that, in a spot as the mystery guest on the Moose and Maggie Show Wednesday, former Yankee Jim Leyritz cautioned that, when Marc Malusis noted that “part of being great is being available,” Judge “has to be more cautious” to reach the levels he’s capable of reaching.
“I think most of his injuries have been things he can’t control, but I think when you’re a player like that, you have to determine how important it really is to do certain things,” Leyritz said. “You have to be a little more cautious when you’re prone to injury like that.”
And Leyritz offered a cautionary tale of one of his past non-Yankees teammates, who was ticketed as a sure-fire Hall of Famer but never was able to reach that potential.
“I remember when I was with the Angels in 1997, I played with Darin Erstad, but he only had that one year,” Leyritz said, referencing Erstad’s 2000 season that saw him finish in the Top 10 in MVP voting, but also turned out to be a career year at age 26. “He couldn’t tone it down, and always got nicked up or hurt, and never truly reached that full potential we knew he could. I worry about that with Aaron, but he’s such a good kid, you can’t help but root for him and hope these first couple years are an anomaly.”
You can listen to Leyritz’s entire segment with Moose and Maggie below, and as always you can check out more on-demand audio from Moose & Maggie, or tune in every day to the WFAN.com livestream of the show!
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