NEW YORK -- Yankees captain Aaron Judge is dealing with a flexor strain in his right elbow that will send him to the 10-day injured list, manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday afternoon's 9-4 loss to the Phillies at Yankee Stadium. Judge's UCL is intact, but he is expected to serve as the Yankees' DH once he returns from the IL, Boone said.
“No acute injury to the UCL. Overall, that’s good news,” Boone said. “With those first few days coming off the IL, it’s probably DH mode. Then he’ll start throwing … and, hopefully, get back to the outfield shortly thereafter.”
Judge hurt the elbow in the sixth inning against the Blue Jays on Tuesday after trying to throw out Davis Schneider at the plate. Schneider ended up scoring on a single by George Springer. Grimacing in pain an inning later, Judge stayed in that game and went on to play the next two games against Toronto and Philadelphia.
“It was kind of do or die,” Judge said about Tuesday’s play. “Keep the one-run lead or it’s a tie game in Toronto. You have to make a play. I felt the pain there. You have to gut it out. It’s a big game. It’s our division rival.”
Judge thought the off-day on Thursday would help ease the pain, but he struggled to throw Friday against the Phillies. Judge went 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly in the 12-5 loss. He also couldn’t throw the ball 60 feet.
“I wasn’t able to throw the last couple of days. I wanted to take the off-day and see how it went,” Judge said. “I was pretty adamant about playing [Friday]. It just came down to a point where if I need to make a play for the team, I’m going to do it. I got [the elbow] checked out, got the news, and we go from there.”
Judge, who has never had elbow issues in the past, is taking medicine to get rid of the pain.
Judge was reluctant to go on the IL. He can swing the bat without any problems, and he figured he could become the DH. But the Yankees wouldn’t agree to Judge’s request.
“Throwing is the main concern. … I’ve been hitting with it during the last couple of days. If I could hit, get me out there,” Judge said.
Once Judge is off the IL, Giancarlo Stanton is expected to see time in the corner outfield spots. Stanton didn’t start his season until June 16 because of tennis elbow problems.
Stanton hasn’t played the outfield since 2023. He acknowledged that he has to knock out the rust this week.
“Whatever is going to put us in the best opportunity to win for all circumstances, I believe that’s going to be for me to be in the outfield,” Stanton said. “I’ll be working out there this coming week and be ready when needed.”
Saturday's loss dropped the Yankees to six games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East entering Toronto’s game against the Tigers on Saturday night. New York is leading the AL Wild Card race.
Judge believes the team is going to be fine without him on the field.
“Guys are going to step up. That’s what it comes down to,” Judge said. “The last couple of years, we had guys get banged up, hurt. I always go back to that 2019 team where I feel everybody got banged up. We had so many guys step up, play bigger roles. It’s what they sign up for coming into the season.
“I expect the same thing for the [current] guys, especially now. We have the Trade Deadline coming up. We made a big acquisition getting [Ryan] McMahon here. He is going to help us win a lot of games. Guys are going to step up and do their job.”
Judge, who won his second AL Most Valuable Player Award in 2024, is having another sensational season for the Yankees, leading the Majors in several statistical categories. Judge has slashed .342/.449/.711 with 37 homers in 103 games.