Yankees' Brian Cashman confident that Aaron Judge's rib is healing
The Yankees' Aaron Judge runs on the field during a spring training workout on Feb. 18 in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
If there is a 2020 baseball season, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman expects Aaron Judge to be a part of it.
“When it happened, I always felt that we wouldn't see Judge more likely until the summertime," Cashman said Thursday from his home in Connecticut during a charity video call to benefit Family Centers.
Judge did not play in any exhibition games during spring training and was extremely limited in his on-field work, the result of a right rib fracture and punctured lung. He and the Yankees believe the injuries occurred when he attempted to make a diving catch last Sept. 18 against the Angels.
Judge showed up in Tampa in late January, a few weeks before position players were required to report. He went through full workouts at the club’s minor league complex but soon experienced soreness in his right shoulder area and was shut down. A battery of tests, including an assortment of MRIs and CT scans, did not reveal the problem, which finally was diagnosed in early March.
That Judge complained of discomfort when he did was an immediate red flag for Cashman.
“Aaron Judge, like most superstar athletes, [feel] they're invincible and they feel like they'll be back sooner [rather] than later,” Cashman said before invoking Yankees royalty, Derek Jeter. “I think that his pain threshold is Jeter-like, too. He never complains. He never shares that something is bothering him. So obviously when he did show up in the spring and said something's been bothering him, it was an 'uh-oh' moment because he really does not ever complain about anything. And he didn't complain in the wintertime, either."
Judge has remained in Tampa during the COVID-19 pandemic, which officially shut down spring training March 13. He, along with Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino, have been working out regularly at Steinbrenner Field.
Manager Aaron Boone recently said Judge will undergo another CT scan in the coming weeks, one the Yankees hope shows that the rib is mostly, if not completely, healed.
"We've had some multiple reimaging that shows the healing and we'll continue that process that will hopefully continue to show that expected healing moving forward,” Cashman said. “Once we resume play, we're excited and believe that he's going to rejoin us at full capacity. Fortunately for him, he's been able to take advantage of this COVID experience [hiatus], but he wants to play as much as anybody and we look forward to getting him back in the lineup."
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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