Getty Image / Jim McIsaac
What was once a promising New York Yankees season may be on the brink of disaster. A toe injury Aaron Judge suffered at the beginning of June may threaten the rest of the season.
This comes a year after the Yankees outfielder had one of the greatest season in the history of baseball. He hit 62 home runs, an American League record, and narrowly missed out on a batting triple crown. And, this year, he got off to another great start. He had 19 homers through 49 games with an OPS+ of a 195 and OPS of 1.078 before suffering the injury when he ran into the wall at Dodger Stadium.
Initially, the injury was only supposed to keep him out for two weeks, maybe. But, things have gotten worse, and now they can’t even commit to Aaron Judge returning this season. Here is ESPN with more details.
“”I’ve got to knock out the rehab stuff,” Judge said. “I’ve had different injuries over the years where it’s going to take a while. It’s not going to be perfect here in a couple of weeks. Once we can manage the pain, we’re going to be in a good spot.”
Judge added: “I don’t think too many people in here have torn a ligament in their toe. If it was a quad, we’d have a better answer. If it’s an oblique or hamstring, we have answers and a timeline for that. With how unique this injury is, and it being my back foot, which I push off of and run off of, it’s a tough spot.”
Judge’s comments come two days after the Yankees said the slugger could potentially start baseball activities this weekend. Judge did rehab work in a pool Wednesday and was hoping to progress to throwing and light hitting.
Manager Aaron Boone said Saturday he expects Judge to return this season but did not provide any guarantees.
“The reality is, we’re without him right now and we’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Boone said. “We have the people in there to get it done, we just got to do a better job right now of putting pressure on the opposing pitchers and defense.”
It doesn’t sound good for the Yankees, who are in 4th place in the AL East and are in the playoffs by just one half game as of now.