Yankees' Aaron Judge Out vs. Braves to Prevent Potential Lower-Body Injury
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves as a precautionary measure.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters his All-Star outfielder is "dealing with some lower body tightness" and is being held out to "hopefully prevent an injury moving forward."
Losing the 28-year-old for significant time would be a massive blow for the Yankees. After all, he is one of the best offensive players in the league and a primary reason they entered the 2020 campaign with legitimate World Series aspirations.
Judge wasted little time making an impact as the American League Rookie of the Year and a Silver Slugger winner in 2017 with a league-best 52 home runs. While he was an All-Star that year and again in 2018, injuries became more of a concern when he appeared in 112 games in his second season and 102 games last year.
He still managed to slash .272/.381/.540 with 27 home runs and 55 RBI in 2019 even while battling injuries and has followed up with an MLB-high nine homers and tied for the MLB lead with 20 RBI in 17 games played so far this season.
Judge dealt with a broken right rib leading up to the 2020 season, and Brendan Kuty of NJ.com noted in July that the team was "taking it extra slow" with his recovery with play suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If Judge is sidelined, look for New York to turn toward a combination of Mike Tauchman and Tyler Wade in right field.
