The New York Yankees spring training campaign took an ugly turn this week after two massive injury concerns rocked the camp. On Monday, Gerrit Cole underwent an MRI of his pitching elbow after complaining of slow recovery between starts. With Cole’s future uncertain, captain Aaron Judge is not very healthy either.
The rigorous spring schedule battered Aaron Judge’s physique as he sought some days of rest. While skipper Aaron Boone scheduled him in Wednesday’s lineup, Judge failed to return as per the scheduled timeline, which raised obvious concerns. Now, as per the latest update, Judge is indeed experiencing some discomfort, which could potentially lead to his absence from the opening-day lineup.
Aaron Judge Undergoes MRI Scans For Abs Discomfort; Shut Down For The Rest Of The Week
The curious case of Aaron Judge’s absence from the New York Yankees spring games has taken a new turn. After Judge failed to return on Wednesday, the captain informed the media that he had been dealing with some discomfort in his abdominal region for the past week. He underwent an MRI scan for the same, which came back just fine. Apparently, the slugger went through some extensive drills during the off-season to reconstruct his mechanics after the gruesome toe injury. The off-season grind, coupled with the spring schedule, resulted in the wear and tear of Judge’s towering physique. Accordingly, Aaron Judge will skip the entire week of the Grapefruit League and won’t swing until the end of the week.
However, Aaron Judge is positive of being fit to participate in the opening day matchup against the Houston Astros. “I’d rather take a couple of days now when these games don’t matter than miss some games in April or May,” said Judge. The captain added that it’s just mid-March, and the team needs to relax. There is no real need to push through the limitation in spring. The most important thing for Aaron is to be ready for March 28, and he is working towards the same. While Judge’s current state is not as alarming, fans and analysts are not feeling too good about this. This isn’t the first time the Yankees downplayed Judge’s injury, which eventually resulted in much worse, for example, last season’s toe injury. Hopefully, the Yanks aren’t bluffing this time, as, without Judge, the lineup is incomplete and lifeless, to say the least.
Judge Promises To Be Back Out On Field Soon
Amid concerns about his presence on the opening day, Aaron Judge clarified that he is pretty confident of taking the field on the 2024 MLB season opening day without any restrictions. “I don’t want to speculate or talk about anything that hasn’t come yet,” said Judge about his potential abdominal injury.
Aaron Judge claimed that his MRI scans showed no damage at all. His body is just banged up from the workload, which resulted in some recovery issues. But he has two weeks left to recover fully before venturing into the 162-season grind. “The most important thing is taking some time now and being back out there soon,” added Judge.
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