The New York Yankees could be without their starting center fielder for a while after recent reports on Aaron Hicks don’t sound uplifting.
The New York Yankees are used to concerning injury news at this point in the season. According to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, doctors “recommend extreme caution” with Aaron Hicks.
“Hicks is doing really well, but he’s two weeks still probably from throwing,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters via Kuty. “Because of where the flexor strain is, being close to the (ulnar collateral ligament), we just don’t want to risk anything so we’re going to make sure it’s completely healed up and probably after another couple weeks he should be good to go. But everything is doing well, he feels really good. All encouraging. But it’s going to be another couple of weeks from today.”
The Yankees don’t want to risk letting Hicks further injure himself. That’s why they’re going to be cautious with him and that’s understandable. New York signed Hicks to a seven-year, $70 million contract in February.
Although Hicks won’t start throwing for another two weeks, the outfield is in tremendous shape for a stretch run. Aaron Judge has yet to catch fire, but Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman, and Cameron Maybin are all having the best seasons of their respective careers.
In a year where Judge, Hicks, and Giancarlo Stanton have all spent significant time on the injured list, the Yankees still have a formidable outfield. It speaks to the resourcefulness of general manager Brian Cashman.
Whether or not Hicks returns in 2019 is still a mystery. However, it’s clear that the Yankees will take the cautious approach with Hicks.
