Aaron Judge of the Yankees will miss Opening Day due to a rib fracture.
Judge revealed on Friday that he suffered a stress fracture, which might take months to cure, following months of agony.
The good news is that Aaron Judge’s chest and shoulder pain has now been linked to a mystery source. His topmost right rib is fractured due to tension. The bad news is that surgery is still a possibility because of a stress fracture in his highest right rib, which will prevent him from playing for the Yankees on opening day.
Judge’s body was tested in over a dozen different areas until a CT scan last week identified the problem. But given that Judge’s injury occurred during the previous season, the diagnosis prompted more concerns about the Yankees’ management of ailments.
On September 18, Judge attempted a diving catch on a fly ball in right field. When he stood up, he frowned, and the team thereafter alleged that his shoulder was squeezed by Judge. Through the American League Championship Series, he continued to play.
However, Judge, 27, disclosed on Friday that he had experienced a “pop” and a “crack” during that play. Judge claimed he did not give the injury much thought since he was high on excitement and the postseason was quickly approaching. He continued playing after passing a few tests, including a magnetic resonance imaging scan, and getting “a couple shots” in the problematic area.
According to Judge, “the shoulder, neck, and surrounding area were the main sources of the pain and problem, so the pain was radiating in other places.” “You tell them what’s wrong and give them the symptoms, and they take your word for it.”
Judge had stiffness in his shoulder area when he started working out in November, but he dismissed it as a typical aftereffect of his prior month of relaxation. He claimed that as the winter wore on, the ache grew greater and he was unsure of its cause.
“I thought, ‘Well, I can sort of warm up and work through this and be fine by the time spring training starts,'” the man recalled. “If I had realized that it was a rib, I may have approached things a little differently.
Even after coming early in Tampa for spring training, Judge’s shoulder continued to bother him. Following his M.R.I., the Yankees said at the time that shoulder pain was the only aberrant finding. Judge’s soreness lingered, alternating between his shoulder and chest, when he rested and then increased his hitting and throwing last week.
Yankees Manager Aaron Boone stated, “My understanding is that it’s a hard thing to find because you’re not going to find it in M.R.I.s or different scans.” “He got X-rays, CT scans, bone scans, and M.R.I.s of the chest and shoulder, among other tests. And this specific CT scan was the one that discovered it.
When asked if the rib will mend in three to six months, Judge stated that he was informed by physicians that he seemed to be around halfway through that procedure. In two weeks, a second CT scan will be performed to assess the extent of the rib’s improvement. Boone stated that at that time, a decision will be taken on the surgical removal of the rib, a tiny bone located behind the collarbone.
Although Judge will miss opening day on March 26, he said he believed he would avoid surgery. In the meantime, Judge won’t be lifting weights, hitting or throwing, in order to avoid further aggravating the injury, as he did over the winter.
“If someone breaks their leg, they’re in a cast and immobilized for a couple weeks or months,” he said. “That gives the bone a chance to heal.”
But because he was angry about how the Yankees’ season ended, two victories short of reaching the World Series, Judge wanted to get started immediately on improvements for the 2020 season. “We’ve all been through pains, bumps and bruises, and usually in my head I feel it’s something I can fight through,” he said. “I think that kind of cost me a little bit there.”
The Yankees faced criticism for how they handled injuries last season, when they set a major league record with 30 different players landing on the injured list. As a result, the Yankees restructured their player health and performance staff.
Due to three players’ ongoing injuries from late last season—Judge, pitchers James Paxton and Luis Severino, and pitchers Judge—questions have persisted into this season.
Severino and Paxton in particular had a battery of testing throughout the off-season before the underlying issues were identified, and they underwent surgery last month.
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