Aaron Judge underwent a new round of imaging on his fractured right rib on Wednesday, and the star slugger told reporters (including the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that is now feeling “feeling 10 times better” than in the early stages of his recovery from a fractured rib. Judge said that “part of it’s healing, the other part of it’s still trying to bridge together. I think that’s what we’re trying, to wait and see if we can get some confirmation of what we can start doing.”
The news is tempered by the fact that Judge still seems weeks away from a potential return to the Yankees’ lineup, as there isn’t yet a plan in place for any rehab or ramp-up work. Some details may emerge once Dr. Gregory Pearl looks at the latest imaging results, and a Yankees spokesperson said “there will be a rehab progression and re-imaging before baseball activities occur. We are waiting to speak again to Dr. Pearl to provide instruction and guidance into what activities he can progress to, as well as a time frame for next re-imaging.”
GM Brian Cashman said last week that the team didn’t expect Judge to get any sort of green light after this first re-imaging. Still, Judge remains only limited to lower-body exercises, as even getting cleared for upper-body work would’ve represented some kind of step in the right direction, if short of proper baseball activities.
It’s a sign of just how otherworldly Judge has been over his career that a 150 wRC+ is a significant step down from his usual production. Judge is hitting .248/.375/.533 in 261 plate appearances this season, and that slash line was dragged down by a .528 OPS in the 57 plate appearances directly before his IL stint began on June 2. The rib fracture is believed to have occurred on April 26, and it took some time for the discomfort to impact Judge’s production. The Yankees are only 18-20 in their superstar’s absence, and have fallen behind the Rays for first place in the AL East.
For as much uncertainty that remains about Judge’s return, both the outfielder and manager Aaron Boone stated that Judge would indeed play again in 2026, so it doesn’t appear like this injury will threaten Judge’s season. Judge also wasn’t sure how long a projected rehab plan might take, as he expressed his preference for a brief or even a non-existent rehab assignment so he wouldn’t have to “waste at-bats in a rehab game.”
