Aaron Judge is out of the Yankee lineup Tuesday night, and it could be longer than that.
Aaron Boone revealed before Tuesday's series opener that the Yankee captain has been dealing with shoulder soreness stemming from what Boone described as a bone bruise in the right clavicle area (as reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post). Per Boone, the soreness had been nagging Judge for "weeks," and it worsened during the team's series win against the A's. Judge went 2-for-12 with no extra-base hits while starting all three games in the series.
As for a timeline on Judge's absence, Boone said Judge is day-to-day but will meet with team doctors Tuesday to get a better idea of how much time he will need to miss.
The loss of Judge, for any period of time, is obviously a crushing blow for a Yankee team closing in on the slumping Rays for the AL East lead. Even in a "down" year so far, Judge has 17 home runs with a .907 OPS. The drop-off from his typical MVP numbers could be explained by the nagging injury he has been dealing with.
Judge dealt with injuries for much of his early career, but had seemingly moved past them since his MVP campaign in 2022, save for a freak toe injury suffered in Los Angeles in 2023. He has played in at least 148 games each season since 2021 aside from that 2023 season.
Judge will meet with team doctors to determine the length of his absence.
Judge will meet with team doctors to determine the length of his absence.
