Yankees star Aaron Judge was placed on the injured list on Sept. 18 with a right calf strain. The injury is Judge’s second of the year, as he missed all of the summer due to a fractured right rib. Manager Aaron Boone was unable to provide an assessment of the severity level for the strain, or make a timeline for Judge’s return.
Judge was pulled for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Twins on Sept. 16, and told reporters later that he felt stiffness in his leg during the first inning. “I tried to kind of play it off and see how long we could go,” he said. “But kind of talking it over, I thought it’d be the right move to come out.”
The injury comes at an inopportune time, as the Yankees are preparing for the postseason. Judge’s earliest return date could be Sept. 27, the final regular season game of the year, but it is unlikely that he will be ready by then. While the severity of his strain is unknown, a Grade 1 strain is still estimated to take about two or three weeks to recover from, which would make Judge questionable for the Wild Card series. Any additional time would likely force him to miss it outright, as well as further rounds in the playoffs.
The Yankees will miss the production of their captain, but have been able to stay afloat for much of the season without him. In his place, Ben Rice (39 home runs, 94 RBI, .897 OPS) has stepped up as the team’s best hitter, while trade-deadline acquisition Luis Garcia Jr. (.799 OPS, seven home runs in 37 games) and veterans Paul Goldschmidt (18 home runs, .772 OPS) and Cody Bellinger (16 home runs, .787 OPS) have provided the Yankees with strong offensive production all year.
To this point, Judge has played in 66 games, batting .241 with 18 home runs, 41 RBIs, and a .871 OPS. He hit just .174 with one home run in six games after returning from his first injured list stint on Sept. 8. Judge will be replaced on the active roster by utilityman Max Schuemann, who was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
