Aaron Judge’s Recovery Update

Aaron Judge is still a few weeks away from having surgery on his right rib, and for now, he’s not ready to discuss his situation publicly.

“I’ll have a proper update once we get the images. Then we can go from there,” Judge mentioned Wednesday morning in the Yankees’ clubhouse.

“Honestly, we don’t need to get into it right now. Sure, it’s a big issue, but I want to give you the complete picture. Why share bits when we can talk about everything at once later?”

That said, it remains ambiguous how quickly “immediately” really is.

Initially, when the Yankees disclosed Judge’s stress fracture, they indicated further imaging would take place in “approximately four to six weeks to assess healing and decide on the next steps.” With Thursday marking four weeks since the diagnosis, there currently aren’t any re-imaging plans, and it seems likely they’ll wait closer to six weeks.

“Until then, we had nothing to gain,” Judge remarked. “You know how it goes. Sometimes he feels better, sometimes he feels worse, but we need the imaging.” Even if the report is positive, getting back into action would still take more time.

It’s a cautious process, one Judge has experienced before. Back in 2018, after breaking his wrist, he felt let down by the team’s initial recovery timeline.

Coach Aaron Boone commented, “I think we made some progress last week, which is encouraging. But we’re not in a place yet to say we’re ready for the next step or to adjust our imaging approach,” and added some uncertainty in the decision-making.

Now, as the Yankees are on a rough streak, having lost six consecutive games, Judge noted feeling “a little unfocused” and plans to work with the team to refocus soon.

Although the Yankees managed early on without Judge, they’ve struggled lately, recording fewer than four hits in each of their last five games—a clear sign of his absence. Boone stated, “Probably in the coming weeks, they’ll decide based on his progress when to reassess. I don’t really know when that will be.”