Judge sent for more tests
Still sidelined with sore shoulder
TAMPA, Fla. _ The medical mysteries continue at Yankees camp, with Aaron Judge’s cranky shoulder now causing the concern. The slugger was sent for more tests on his “sore” right shoulder after feeling something as he tried to hit in the cage for the second straight day on Friday.
As they don’t know what the issue is, the Yankees also do not know if Judge will be ready for Opening Day.
“Timewise, we’re still fine,” Aaron Boone said. The manager said if Judge is able to start playing in games in a week to 10 days that he should be ready for the start of the season.
“But, first things first is getting up to that point,” Boone said. “And I don’t know when that is.”
It took months for the Yankees doctors to diagnose a partial tear in Luis Severino’s ulnar collateral ligament, which they finally did on Tuesday. Now, they are struggling to figure out why Judge feels discomfort “behind his pec” when he tries to hit.
Judge was “just not right” hitting on Friday and the team did a number of tests that have come back negative,
Boone said after the Yankees beat the Tigers 8-2 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“So we’re just kinda in a holding pattern with it, just trying to kind of figure out what exactly was going on there.”
Judge is scheduled to have more tests in Tampa next week.
The 27-year-old outfielder was first shut down in early February with the shoulder issue after being sent back to New York for an MRI and exam with team doctors. At the time, Boone said the MRI showed no change in the shoulder, explaining that there was some issue apparent on the MRI in the shoulder dating back to when he was drafted.
Whatever it is, it started bugging Judge when he showed up here to begin working out and has not allowed him a normal ramp up of hitting and throwing.
Through that initial shutdown, Judge had been working out and doing drills with the outfielders. Saturday, however, he showed up at Steinbrenner Field around 10 a.m. in street clothes after his teammates had already gone out to do drills. He had just begun ramping up his throwing, moving from 60 to 90 and then finally 120 feet. They had progressed him from swinging off a tee to soft-toss to coach-thrown hitting in a cage.
Boone said throwing was not an issue.
He said that Judge would not be completely shut down from all activity during this period, but he will not be able to continue hitting until there is a diagnosis. Ideally, a hitter of Judge’s experience needs 30 to 60 spring at-bats to be ready for the season, Boone said earlier this week. With three weeks to go, the Yankees could get him that between minor league games and Grapefruit League games.
But the time to fit that in is flying by quickly.
Judge has struggled with injuries the last two seasons. After playing in 155 games in his 2017 Rookie of the Year season, Judge has played in 112 in 2018 and 102 last year. He suffered a fractured wrist in 2018 and last year he had a strained oblique. He spent 54 games on the injured list last season, one of a record 30 players to spend time on the IL.
That adds to the frustration of the injuries early in the 2020 camp. Severino finally underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday and now the Yankees have another mystery on their hands.