Yankees' Aaron Hicks (leg) hopes to return soon
The Yankees' Aaron Hicks is assisted off the field by a trainer after he was hit by a pitch on his right leg from Reds starting pitcher Graham Ashcraft during the third inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Hicks couldn’t dodge his foul ball, but it certainly seems like he dodged serious injury.
Hicks, who doesn’t wear a leg guard, fouled a ball off his right shin and stayed down in the third inning of the Yankees' Tuesday night loss to the Reds, but despite sporting a slight limp Wednesday, the switch-hitting outfielder said he hopes to be back in action in a few days, and possibly for their upcoming series against the Red Sox.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t broken or some kind of fracture or something,” Hicks said. “I’ve been hit in the leg a lot and normally, I like to tough it out and get through the game and deal with it on the back end. This is the first time I’ve ever hit my ankle or my leg and couldn’t continue. That’s how I kind of figured something was going on.”
X-rays on the leg came back clean Tuesday and a further CT-scan also showed nothing but a contusion. Hicks received more treatment Wednesday and hopes to resume baseball activities soon.
“Especially looking at the replay, it looked pretty bad,” Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully, that’s a bit of good news and now he can start to really treat it and make some gains here starting today and we’ll see where we’re at day to day.”
The injury, though, has terrible timing. Hicks, who struggled early in the season, has been heating up of late, hitting .370 since the beginning of July, with seven extra-base hits, including three homers. Prior to that, he was hitting .218 with six extra-base hits in 197 at bats.
“It’s frustrating,” Hicks said. “Especially since now, I’m starting to get the results that I want – more power, more extra-base hits and to kind of just stop, it sucks. I felt good at the plate and now an injury like this, it stops you from doing what you love.”
It doesn’t help that Hicks has been plagued with injury in recent years – most-recently missing the majority of the 2021 season with a wrist issue that required surgery. He’s played in 76 of the Yankees first 88 games this year, more games than he’s played in a season since 2018.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
