New York Yankees star Aaron Judge is still undergoing tests. Amidst all that uncertainty, he still won’t rule out playing on Opening Day.
Aaron Judge still hasn’t made an appearance in New York Yankees spring training. He hasn’t even taken batting practice outside yet. Judge has been undergoing various tests to figure out the reason for his sore shoulder that’s kept him off the field this spring.
Thus far, those tests haven’t turned up anything unsightly. And with no bad news to speak of, Judge decided to take the opportunity to update fans on his ideal recovery timeline.
Aaron Judge just said he thinks he can still be ready for Opening Day. The big issue now: they are still trying to pinpoint what’s causing chest/shoulder pain #yankees
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 5, 2020
That’s right. Aaron Judge has no idea what’s wrong with his shoulder. But he still wants to do whatever it takes to suit up on Opening Day.
To hear Judge sound so confident is music to Yankee fans’ ears. After the injury disasters of 2019, fans are rightfully terrified of ambiguous injury updates like Judge’s. If 2019 leaked into 2020, Judge would miss the entire season with various muscle ailments that show up right when he’s ready to return.
However, there’s no point in living in the past. No tests have revealed anything structurally wrong with Judge. He obviously isn’t too concerned given his own projected timeline. Until there’s something to be concerned about, this is simply an elite athlete suffering from a sore shoulder.
At the end of the day all that matters is getting Judge healthy. He’s too important to the Yankees’ high aspirations in 2020. It would be great to have him on the Opening Day roster.
But it would be better if Judge missed two weeks to get himself fully healthy. The Yankees are plenty talented to keep the boat afloat without him. All Yankee fans can agree that 140 healthy games out of Judge would be better than 70 injury-riddled games because he tried to rush back too early.
Get healthy, hit dingers. The recipe for Aaron Judge and New York Yankees success in 2020.
