The Yankees are placing star outfielder Aaron Judge back on the injured list. Manager Aaron Boone said the reigning MVP has a bruise and strained ligament in his right big toe.
Judge suffered the injury Saturday at Dodger Stadium. He made, arguably, the best catch of his career before crashing through the right field bullpen’s gate. Judge subsequently missed Sunday’s game and Tuesday’s home loss to the White Sox.
This is the second IL stint for Aaron Judge this season. He missed ten games with a hip strain earlier in the year and came back better than ever. Judge was batting .325 with 13 home runs and 26 RBI since being activated on May 9.
This is a big blow for the Yankees, whose key players aren’t hitting well. DJ LeMahieu is in an awful slump and Anthony Rizzo is 1 for his last 14. The rest of the lineup, including Giancarlo Stanton, is too streaky to be reliable without Judge’s constant consistency. Maybe Harrison Bader can be a spark plug again when he returns in a few days?
Regardless, the Yankees are 6-7 this year without Judge in the lineup. New York’s bats can carry them to victory, but someone else will need to lead the way.
As for a timeline, it sounds like this will hopefully be just about a week off for Aaron Judge. It was reported ahead of Tuesday’s game that his toe is less swollen and Boone even said he was feeling “a bit better.”
But the Yankees are still without their MVP, their captain, their big bat that makes the lineup go. Worse yet, Judge will now miss both the Red Sox this weekend and the first round of the Subway Series next week. Luckily, if he only misses the minimum, he’ll be ready for Fenway Park next weekend.
Let’s see how the Yankees fare without him this time.
