My Thoughts on the Aaron Judge Injury Scare
Aaron Judge has had an eventful past several weeks. It was revealed on Mar. 6 that Judge has a stress fracture in his rib, which was the cause of severe discomfort from what many believed what a shoulder injury.
Two weeks later, on Mar. 20, it was revealed that Judge also had a collapsed lung due to this fracture. A collapsed lung is a very serious injury that could be considered fatal if not treated. Luckily for Judge, this injury was not as serious as it could have been.
The fractured rib is just one of the few injuries Judge has sustained over the past couple seasons, including a fractured wrist in 2018 and an oblique strain in 2019. Ironically, both of these injuries came against the Kansas City Royals.
Judge supposedly fractured a rib during a September 2019 game diving for a ball in the outfield. He managed to play throughout the postseason without any major problem. The entire offseason went on somewhat fine, as Judge thought that it was nothing major to worry about.
Then Spring Training rolled around….
Judge had soreness in what was believed to be in the shoulder area and did not play in a single Spring Training game.
Is it possible that he could have tweaked it during the off-season? Sure, because it makes sense.
He was able to hit the ball for power during the postseason just fine. How could he walk into Spring Training not being able to hit?
Now I am not saying that Judge was doing something he was not supposed to be doing and that is why he is still hurt, because even the smallest of movements could have caused a collapsed lung. What I am saying is that he should have notified someone.
If there is one lesson the players should learn from the 2019 season, they need to speak up about an injury even if they feel it is unnecessary. It is better to be safe than sorry.
If Judge notified someone in November, he more than likely may have had surgery to repair the injury and may have missed a couple months of game-time action. But since the team did not find out until Spring Training, they were forced to just rest him and see how well the injury healed itself.
From what reports are saying, it seems that the rest has been working well for Judge. But he has not taken batting practice, which will be the biggest indicator on how well the rib healed.
Luckily for the Yankees and Judge, the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 has caused MLB to delay the start of the season until at least mid-May. As for now, the Yankees should just let Judge rest for a few more weeks and re-evaluate him at the beginning of April. This will allow him more time to heal, but will also allow the Yankees to see where he is at in the recovery stages.
Time will only tell on how well Judge will be for the upcoming season. He is a big bat in the lineup, as well as an icon in the Bronx. The fans want him back healthier than ever, and so do his teammates.
Hopefully soon, we will be able to hear John Sterling’s famous call of, “All Rise! Here comes the Judge!”
