New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman said in an interview on Thursday that Aaron Judge won’t be ready to play until “summertime.”
Judge injured himself in September while diving for a ball in right field. He sustained a cracked rib and a collapsed lung. Although in pain, Judge trained like usual in the off-season and didn’t think much of the pain until he arrived in Tampa. After a period of uncertainty, they found the injuries shortly before the league was shut-down.
It’s good news that the Yankees haven’t had to play games without Judge. If the season started as planned, he would’ve missed at least half the season. Now, it’s looking like he could be ready on Opening Day if it happens in July as talks have indicated.
The injuries that have happened to Aaron Judge over the past few seasons have started to become quite concerning. He’s been hurt for an extended time three times now in less than two years. Recurring injuries have the potential to slow development.
And it’s especially crucial for Judge to stay healthy because he came up later than a lot of players. He’s 28 already, and really in his prime now. Losing more and more time to injuries in his prime could be very costly in his career.
Hopefully, Judge will be healthy and ready to go if/when the season starts. He’s such an essential piece to the Yankees on both sides of the ball. Losing a guy like him will certainly affect the team, especially in a shortened season.