There’s nothing the makes you feel like New York Yankees baseball is right around the corner more than a pre-season injury, and slugger Aaron Judge was the second to come up on the injury report.
Starting pitcher James Paxton was the first to fall ill, having a cyst removed from his lower back that will rule him out for at least three months. However, the expectation is that he should return to full health for the remainder of the season, which could mitigate fatigue and allow him to start his year in the swing of things.
The Yankees have bolstered their starting rotation with Gerrit Cole and the return of both Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery. With Paxton and Domingo German set to miss time, the Bombers will have to supplement their losses, but when the full unit is back in action, they will have a dominant grouping.
As for Aaron Judge, who picked up a shoulder injury and was limited in training, he’s reportedly dealing with minor soreness and irritation.
The New York Yankees are just taking it easy with their top youth player:
Judge being the proactive player he is — workouts didn’t end after the Yankees were eliminated from the 2019 postseason, he continued to log reps at the plate and refine his defensive skills on his own time. Ultimately, all of this hard work caused him to pick up a bit of “crankiness,” as Aaron Boone stated.
This “injury” is more of a maintenance related break, considering his non-stop work ethic and desire to improve. Judge was still active in the fielding drills, despite refraining from throwing the ball and participating in batting practice. This should be no more than a cautious-approach towards one of the Yankees’ best players and Boone expressed his confidence that Judge would return to full capability by next week