Aaron Hicks and the Yankees have decided to treat the center fielder’s torn sheath in his wrist with surgery, putting the rest of his season in jeopardy.
Hicks was last in the lineup on May 12, when Boone said the 31-year-old was dealing with wrist soreness, which was later revealed to be a torn sheath, similar to the injury Mark Teixeira had in both 2009 and 2013.
In 2009, Teixeira worked through the injury and put together an MVP-caliber season. In 2013, his season was derailed because of it. Hicks’ situation appears to be closer to the latter.
“Aaron Hicks is going to go the surgery route,” Aaron Boone said on Friday. “He’s flying back to Arizona tomorrow. We’re in the process of scheduling surgery with Doctor Sheridan out in Arizona. I’m not sure what day it will be, but he is going to have surgery.”
The loss of Hicks is a big blow to the Yankees and their outfield depth, which has been stretched thin in recent weeks. While Hicks has been out, Clint Frazier has been dealing with a neck issue that is going to receive further testing, while emergency call-up Ryan LaMarre was put on the IL on Thursday with a hamstring strain. Aaron Judge didn’t start on Thursday for rest purposes after starting in the DH spot the previous two games, as Boone continues to treat his oft-injured star with caution. Giancarlo Stanton, seen as an emergency option in the outfield due to his recent injury history, is out with a quad strain.
Now it looks like the outfield could be without one of its regular starters for the rest of the season.
“I know it’s months, plural, I don’t know how many,” Boone said of the recovery timeline for Hicks. “Let’s get through the surgery and see what they say about a potential timeline, and if that puts any point at the end of the season or play or not, it’s probably too early to speculate on that. But it’s going to be awhile.”
Hicks had gotten off to a brutal start this season, but was batting .345 over his last 10 games with a .962 OPS. He missed much of the 2019 season due to injury, and had Tommy John surgery after that season. He is signed through 2025 on a seven-year, $70 million contract that he signed before the 2019 season.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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