Erik Boland: Aaron Judge downplays latest injury, but Yankees' actions say otherwise
Aaron Judge of the Yankees after an at-bat against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field on Sept. 16, 2026. Credit: Getty Images
The Yankees absorbed something potentially far more damaging on Wednesday than an extra-inning loss to the Twins that may well have ended their hopes of catching the Rays for the AL East title.
Aaron Judge, after grimacing ever so slightly on a third-inning check swing, was pulled from the 5-4 defeat in 13 innings in the top of the sixth inning.
The news, initially at least, seemed positive in that Judge, pinch hit for by Heliot Ramos, left the game with what the team announced as “right lower leg tightness.”
Anything, of course, relating to the rib fracture that cost Judge three-plus months of the season, possibly could have been season-ending.
Which isn’t to say the non-specific, could-mean-anything vagueness of “right lower leg tightness” was cause to pop any of the remaining bubbly from Monday night’s raucous clubhouse celebration stemming from the Yankees officially clinching a playoff berth.
Manager Aaron Boone generally leans toward pathological optimism the first time around when discussing a given player’s injury.
He did not take that route after Wednesday’s loss, the most concerning comment, insofar as Yankees fans are concerned, was his answer to reporters in Minneapolis about his “concern” level.
“Hopefully, we get it treated and knock it out and he’ll be a factor at some point,” Boone said.
The key words there, naturally, being “at some point.”
The obvious follow-up – do you think he’ll have to miss games? – brought this answer:
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “We’ll see. We have an off day tomorrow, so I’m not going to speculate one way or the other. We’ll just see how he responds.”
Judge, who suffered the rib fracture during an April 26 game in Houston’s Minute Maid Park diving for a ball but tried to play through the ensuing discomfort for the next month before saying something to Boone during a May 31 game in Sacramento, said after Wednesday’s game he felt something in his lower leg during the first inning against the Twins.
Judge, who resembles his predecessor as Yankees captain, Derek Jeter, in that he won’t even cop behind the scenes to teammates at feeling soreness or pain of any kind, unsurprisingly stayed in the game, though he was eventually removed.
Equally unsurprisingly, the three-time AL MVP downplayed what he felt on Wednesday.
“Still trying to ramp up, so there’s going to be little things like this that come up,” Judge said. “Just thought it would be best, instead of pushing through like I normally do and it might become a little worse, get somebody who’s ready go in there. Just trying to do what’s best for the team.”
Though Judge said he “had no idea” whether he would require testing on the leg, and added later “probably not,” it would be somewhat surprising the Yankees didn’t have him get some imaging on Thursday, an off day for the Yankees before they play three games at Chase Field against the Diamondbacks.
It would also be somewhat surprising, based on how Boone and Judge sounded, if Judge takes the field as soon as Friday night on the hard turf of Chase Field, artificial surfaces being what they are when it comes to the impact they can have on players’ lower bodies.
“Hopefully, it’s just one little thing and we’re back up there soon,” Judge said.
The Yankees captain twice used a form of the phrase “ramp up” during his brief postgame remarks Wednesday as his seven games back have more or less been that – an extension of his rehab process.
It is not accurate to say Judge was “rushed” back from his injury, which healed slower than anticipated, but the three-time MVP did take a somewhat unusual course back to the big leagues. Unusual in that Judge played in exactly zero rehab games, something the outfielder has done throughout his career when he’s had to spend extended time on the IL has made clear he has little use for. But it extremely rare for a player missing as much time as Judge did to not play in at least a few rehab games in the minors before being activated.
Instead, after taking all of one live batting practice session on Sept. 7, Judge made his return on Sept. 8.
He has been expectedly rusty, going 4-for-26 with 13 strikeouts and one homer (hit on Monday) in seven games.
The Yankees, starting in that Sept. 8 game against the Rockies, have proceeded cautiously.
Judge played seven innings in his first game back and eight innings one night later before having Sept. 10 off. After playing all three Subway Series games against the Mets, it was already unlikely Judge would have played all three games against the Diamondbacks.
Now, it’s a question of whether he will play any of those games at all.
Or, for that matter, how many thereafter in the final week of the regular season, which starts with a four-game series against the Rays starting Sept. 22 at the Stadium.
“A lot of good things,” Boone said of Wednesday’s loss, a game in which his team rallied from a 2-0 deficit with two outs in the ninth to force extra innings. “Not enough good things.”
And one, potentially, very bad thing.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
