Yankees 'obviously concerned' as Aaron Judge dealing with elbow issue, awaiting test results

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jul 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is dealing with an unspecified right elbow issue, Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Saturday morning.

Judge, out of the lineup with the Yankees facing Phillies lefty Ranger Suárez, underwent imaging, but Boone didn’t have any results to share at the time of his pregame press conference. The Yankees were also waiting on a visit from Dr. Christopher Ahmad, their team physician.

Boone said he was “obviously concerned” about Judge, baseball’s best hitter, but he didn’t have any information on the severity of the slugger’s injury or his ulnar collateral ligament after the right fielder lobbed in several throws from the outfield in Friday’s loss to Philadelphia.

“Felt like he was fine on the off day, and then just last night was really dealing with it,” Boone said. “He couldn’t really throw well from the outfield.”

On Tuesday in Toronto, cameras caught Judge wincing and clutching his right hand in a fist after making a seventh-inning throw. Judge then DH’d on Wednesday, which Boone said was a predetermined plan.

When the New York Daily News asked Judge about his wince on Wednesday, he replied, “I make facial expressions all the time.”

He also noted that he didn’t come out of Tuesday’s game and that he’s DH’d when the Yankees have played at the turfed Rogers Centre in the past. Judge also homered Wednesday.

“He’s OK. Not much,” Boone said pregame Wednesday when asked what happened on the Tuesday throw. “Just probably a throw that didn’t feel great.”

On Saturday, however, Boone acknowledged that the throw in Toronto “zinged” Judge.

“It hurt,” Boone continued. “And then he felt good to go on the off day. And then last night, though, he just was struggling to throw a little bit. So we want to get this checked out.”

Judge did not appear in the Yankees’ clubhouse during the 50 minutes of access that reporters receive pregame.

While Boone made it seem like Judge’s elbow is less of an issue when he swings — he went 0 for 3 with a sac fly and strikeout on Friday — the Yankees are now holding their collective breath.

Judge has been working on another MVP campaign, slashing .342/.449/.711 with 37 home runs, 85 RBIs and a 208 wRC+. The second-place Yankees, already struggling, don’t have to imagine what life without Judge would be like, as their offense cratered when he missed two months with a toe injury in 2023.

That team didn’t make the playoffs, though it also had a far weaker lineup than the 2025 Yankees.

With the current team 5.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East and a diagnosis impending, Boone wasn’t ready to think about the impact Judge’s loss could have.

“I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself with that,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s something that is manageable and we get through.”

Should Judge have to miss time, the Yankees do have three other starting caliber outfielders in Jasson Domínguez, Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham. Bryan De La Cruz and Everson Pereira are at Triple-A and on the 40-man roster.

Spencer Jones is also with the RailRiders. The prospect, subjected to trade rumors with the July 31 deadline coming, has been tearing the cover off the ball lately, hitting 13 home runs in 19 games since being promoted to Triple-A. However, Jones missed Scranton’s game on Friday with back spasms.