Disappointed Judge sees worst fear realized after trying to push through pain

NEW YORK – The diagnosis Aaron Judge said he feared most became reality on Thursday, when imaging revealed a stress fracture in the Yankees captain’s right first rib – an injury he said he had been attempting to manage for nearly six weeks.

“I’m very disappointed,” Judge said on Friday at Yankee Stadium. “That’s why we went through every measure we could, to get every expert to take a look and see what was going on in there. It’s definitely not what you want to hear, a fracture or anything like that.”

Out of the lineup for the Yankees’ series against the Guardians, Judge underwent an MRI, CT scan and X-rays on successive days this week in New York. The team said that Judge will be re-imaged in four to six weeks to assess healing and the appropriate next steps in his recovery.

Judge believes the injury stems from a diving play during a late-April series against the Astros in Houston, and it continued to get progressively worse. Video review suggests it might have occurred on April 26, when he and second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. converged on a Dustin Harris fly ball.

“This dive in particular, trying to avoid a teammate, it’s just an awkward situation where you put your body in a tough position,” Judge said of the play.

Judge acknowledged that crashing into walls (as he did on May 3 vs. Baltimore) didn’t help. Yet he did not miss any games until Tuesday, with manager Aaron Boone saying he’d noticed the issue was getting worse during the club’s series against the Athletics in West Sacramento.

Judge’s performance fell off around May 13; from that day forward, he batted .180 (11-for-61) with one homer and eight RBIs.

“I was feeling the symptoms the past month, and we kind of did everything we could to make sure we could be out there,” Judge said. “In Sacramento, it just got a little worse. I fought as long as I could. … The biggest thing was that I just couldn’t swing the way I wanted to. And Sacramento was the worst.”

Still, general manager Brian Cashman said he was caught off-guard when head athletic trainer Mike Schuk called him on Monday, recommending that Judge undergo imaging.

“Prior to that, it was not on anybody’s radar in any way, shape or form,” Cashman said. “It developed a little bit, I think, in the manager-player conversation in Sacramento at the tail end of that series. But prior to that, it really wasn’t on anybody’s radar, from player to trainers to front office.”

Boone said he was aware Judge had been receiving treatment, noting, “Guys are dealing with things all the time.”

Asked why he continued to play through the injury, Judge replied: “We’ve got a lot of guys banged up. You’ve got to be out there. That’s what they’re paying me to do, to go out there and play.”

In a corresponding move, the club recalled outfielder Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday. In 10 games during his first callup, the 25-year-old Jones posted a slash line of .167/.259/.167 with two RBIs.

Over the next several weeks, Jasson Domínguez and potentially even Giancarlo Stanton could re-enter the outfield picture. José Caballero and Max Schuemann played right field during the Cleveland series; Jones was in right field on Friday against the Red Sox.

“Obviously, you’re not going to replace Aaron Judge, and we all know how important he is to our club,” Boone said. “But we’re also very confident in our ability to go out there and absolutely have the expectation to continue to win games.”

Judge’s diagnosis came after a consultation with Dr. Gregory Pearl of Dallas, who specializes in “thoracic outlet syndrome management in high-performance athletes,” according to his practice’s website. However, Judge said that was not a concern for him.

“I don’t think thoracic was ever involved in this at all. I don’t know where that came from,” Judge said. “The worst thing that I had in my eyes was a fractured rib, which is what we got.”

Judge said the rib fracture is “near the same spot” as the one he sustained in September 2019, also while attempting a diving catch.

Over the years since, Judge has made efforts to be more conservative in certain areas of his preparation, but he has no plans to change his outfield play.

“It’s baseball. I’m going to run into walls, dive for my pitchers and my teammates every single day,” Judge said. “It’s kind of out of your control. If I pull my hamstring, that’s on me. You’re not doing something right. But diving and trying to make a play for your teammate, that’s playing the game.”