Just after seemingly avoiding an injury scare after an awkward head-first slide into third base in Wednesday’s series finale against the Twins, Aaron Judge awakened those concerns after leaving Thursday’s series opener against the Rangers in the fourth inning.
Many expected the injury to be related to his hand, after it got rolled over in that slide to third base, but it was later revealed to be right hip discomfort, which Judge said stemmed from that slide.
“Just a little grab in the hip area,” Judge said. “After the headfirst dive the other night, just kind of the whole right side has been a little locked up. It wasn’t until that second-to-last swing of that at-bat, I kind of felt something grab, and thought it would be best to kind of shut it down, see how we feel after a couple days, and get back in there.”
Judge had two at-bats on Thursday, both strikeouts, and Aaron Boone didn’t like what he saw in Judge’s last swing, and after Judge revealed the hip discomfort, he was promptly removed from the game.
“I think when we woke up this morning, you kind of feel a little more of what happened,” Judge said. “A culmination of having that, then couple swings today, just couldn’t get loose, and after feeling a little something there in the second at-bat, best to shut it down and reevaluate after a couple of days.”
After years of injuries hampered his eventual rise to stardom, Judge has managed to stay healthy each of his last two seasons. He doesn’t expect that to change, and doesn’t anticipate needing long before returning, though he couldn’t commit to being back for the final three games of the series in Texas.
“I don’t have an answer to that,” Judge said. “We’ll take it day-to-day and see where things go.”
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