Cashman discusses Judge rehab, new training department
By Kristie Ackert
NEW YORK — The Yankees and Aaron Judge knew that he was doubling down on his right calf when he was activated off the injured list last week. With what the Yankees call a “failed rehab,” Judge now automatically faces double the time on the IL as he did the first time, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said.
Cashman said that Dr. Chris Admad, the Yankees team doctor, had warned that a recurrence of the same injury would “double the time on the rehab side.”
That would put Judge out until at least after Labor Day.
The GM added that Judge communicated “to the best of his abilities” on how he was doing, but it didn’t prevent the second IL stint.
It’s another big injury blow to the Yankees, who have eight players on the injured list right now.
After last season, when the Yankees put an MLB-record 30 players on the IL, Cashman and the Yankees invested in reshaping their training and strength and conditioning department.
They brought in celebrity trainer Eric Creesey, who worked privately with many MLB players, to oversee the programs in an attempt to try and cut down on the injuries.
To be fair, injuries are up across baseball this season. It is believed that can be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic with the shut down of the original spring training, the nearly four month layoff and a short training camp before beginning an erratic sprint of a regular season.
Cashman, however, said that this season is almost too soon to see the results of changes they put in place in January.
“One of the things we did learn during our effort and studies was, not every time but there’s a high percentage when you do make changes, that your injuries actually do go up,” Cashman explained. “And I’m not saying that’s a byproduct of any of our changes, because I do think this is a unique sporting year with COVID and a lot of the shortened training programs that we’ve had to deal with, as everybody’s had to deal with. But the historical data does show that when teams make significant changes, even if they’re for the better, you get some exposure and increased injuries that do hit.”