MINNEAPOLIS — Aaron Judge had spent more than three months trying to get back into the Yankees lineup, then only seven games trying to make his body feel normal again. That made Wednesday’s scene at Target Field jarring even before anyone knew exactly what had happened.
The Yankees captain exited a two-run game in the sixth inning, Heliot Ramos grabbed a bat, and a Yankees afternoon that already had gone sideways suddenly carried much larger consequences than a 5-4, 13-inning loss to the Twins.
The Yankees had already secured a postseason berth, but their October picture remains unsettled. But Judge is the player around whom the Yankees lineup bends, both because of his production and the way pitchers attack everyone around him. Any interruption now would land at the worst point of the calendar.
That is why Judge’s postgame explanation did not quiet the concern. It ended up raising eyebrows. He framed the episode as the kind of physical response that can happen when a player is still rebuilding game conditioning.
But Judge’s admission sharpen the question facing the Yankees: how much strain did a 99-day layoff place on the rest of the capatain’s body once he returned to everyday major league work?
The Yankees have been managing that risk since activating Judge on Sept. 8 from the injured list following a stress fracture in his first right rib. They shortened his first two games, gave him planned rest and monitored his workload. Judge had pushed to return without a rehab assignment and had faced live pitching only once before activation.
Until Wednesday, Aaron Boone said he had been pleased with how the captain was responding. Then the Yankees encountered the kind of setback they had been trying to avoid.
Judge’s reluctant answer adds another layer
Judge stayed in the game, struck out twice and tried to manage the discomfort before deciding the risk had become unnecessary.
“Hopefully it’s just one little thing and we’re back out there soon,” Judge said.
Judge said testing was “probably not” necessary, while the Yankees left that decision open pending treatment and his response during Thursday’s off day.
The immediate issue is tightness in Judge’s lower right leg. The Yankees captain said he first felt it while playing defense in the first inning, not in the batter’s box, and could not identify one specific play that caused it. Boone did not learn about the problem until later, after noticing Judge hobbling in right field during the fifth.
When asked to identify the injury, the Yankees superstar offered little detail.
“Uh, it’s lower body,” Judge said.
Asked whether it was similar to something he had dealt with before, the Yankees slugger compared it with the nuisance issues players encounter while building back up.
“I feel like you deal with this every Spring Training,” Judge said. “Usually at the start of the season once you start ramping up again, things pop up.”
The theory shifts from the rib to the ramp-up
The more troubling theory around the Yankees is not that Judge aggravated the healed rib. It is that the long shutdown may have created a secondary soft-tissue risk as he accelerated back into outfield work, baserunning and full-speed game movement.
The Yankees have not identified the exact structure involved in Judge’s lower leg, and there was no confirmed imaging result as of Thursday morning. But the Yankees captain acknowledged that his body is still in a ramp-up phase after a long stretch without normal baseball activity.
“We’re still trying to ramp up, so there’s going to be little things like this that come up,” Judge said.
That is reassuring if the tightness is temporary. It is more complicated if the Yankees are managing a body that is healthy enough to play but still adjusting to September intensity.
Judge also rejected the idea that a rehab assignment necessarily would have prevented it.
“People blow out their calves and blow out their quads in rehab assignments, so I don’t think taking a game in Double-A will change any of that,” Judge said.
Jimmy O’Brien, the Yankees-focused creator behind Jomboy Media, posted his own four-part speculation before the club disclosed the lower-leg tightness. His first theory was that Judge may have aggravated something Monday rather than Wednesday, noting that nothing obvious in the Twins game appeared to cause the problem and questioning why the Yankees slugger had been rested Tuesday.
O’Brien’s other theories were deliberately less serious. He joked that Judge might simply have been sick, referenced “Remember the Titans” by suggesting the Yankees captain told Boone to put Ramos in because “he’s better,” and then finished with the most important caveat: “none of the above, we don’t know shit and waiting to find out sucks.”
The Yankees’ actual timeline leaves open a broader ramp-up question. Judge said in July that there were weeks when he “really couldn’t do a lot.” He was not cleared for outdoor running and upper-body resistance training until Aug. 5, barely more than a month before his Sept. 8 activation.
The 99-day layoff creates a second recovery problem
The Yankees can point to a gradual plan. Judge played limited innings in his first two games back and received planned rest. He had completed only three nine-inning games before Wednesday.
Still, clearing a rib fracture is different from rebuilding full game conditioning. Judge had to restore timing at the plate, reaction speed in right field and repeated explosive movement. He is 4-for-26 with one home run and 13 strikeouts in seven games since activation.
The Yankees also know what his absence does to the lineup. From June 2 through Sept. 7, the club ranked near the bottom of MLB in strikeout rate, batting average, wRC+ and OPS.
Thursday is more than a routine off day. The Yankees will treat the leg and evaluate Judge before Friday’s series opener at Arizona, then return home for the four-game Rays series beginning Tuesday.
“Obviously, he’s a key figure to what we do,” Boone said. “Hopefully, we get it treated and knock it out and [he can] be a factor at some point.”
The Yankees avoided an immediate recurrence of the rib problem. What remains unanswered is whether this is a brief byproduct of rebuilding Judge’s body or the first sign that a rapid September ramp-up created another obstacle before October.
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