It was the news the New York Yankees were nervously awaiting and hoping to avoid: Aaron Judge diagnosed with a stress fracture in his ribs and expected to be sidelined a minimum of four to six weeks.
The superstar outfielder tried to battle through it, but after taking a few games off and being further evaluated, it turns out the ailment was more serious than anybody initially thought.
It’s a massive blow for a Yankees team with World Series aspirations, as they’ll now have to try to tread water without their MVP for a potentially substantial amount of time. While the timeline going around suggests a month to a month and a half out of action for Judge, he’s not a fan of projecting a potential return to the lineup.
“I don’t like talking time tables, that stuff’s all made up, so you never know what’s going to happen.”
The 34-year-old Judge had been his typical productive self through 59 games this season, hitting .248 while slugging 17 HRs and 38 RBI.
Judge obviously wants to play and will do everything in his power to beat that four-to-six-week recovery timeline. He gave the exact answer you’d expect from your captain and leader when asked why he attempted to play through the pain in recent weeks:
“Big G’s hurt, Max Fried’s hurt. We had a lot of guys banged up. You’ve got to be out there. That’s what they’re paying me to do, to go out there and play,”
Unfortunately, that didn’t end up helping matters.
They’ll need the likes of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the pitching staff, among others, to step up and lead the charge until Judge gets back in order to stay in the race with the Tampa Bay Rays atop the AL East.
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