Aaron Judge’s toe ‘doesn’t feel great’ with Yankees injury timeline still uncertain
Five days later, there was still no clarity on how long Aaron Judge’s toe injury will keep him sidelined.
The superstar outfielder, on the 10-day injured list, spoke to the media Thursday for the first time since being diagnosed with a toe sprain and expressed frustration at his latest malady, though he was unsure when he will be able to return.
“There’s no timetable, really, which I think is best because there’s a couple things going on in there,” Judge said before the doubleheader at the Stadium against the White Sox. “So I think they don’t want to say a timetable and then it’s a couple of weeks longer or a couple of weeks less. I think it’s more based on how it’s feeling. Once it starts feeling better, then you can start progressing to doing some walking-around baseball stuff and moving around.”
He added: “It doesn’t feel great. If it felt great, I’d be out there.”
Judge suffered a contusion and ligament sprain in his right big toe in Saturday’s win over the Dodgers when he made a running catch and crashed into — and through — the outfield fence.
Last season’s AL MVP spent 10 days on the IL earlier this year with a right hip strain. Judge has been fantastic when healthy this season, posting a .291/.404/.674 slash line with 19 homers and 2.2 WAR across 49 games.
Judge received a platelet-rich plasma injection to reduce swelling around the injury Tuesday night. Once the swelling goes down, manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees will have a better idea of how long he will be out.
For now, though, they are in the dark.
“Right now, he’s kind of hobbling around, especially from the shot he just got,” Boone said.
When pressed on the issue, asked if it could be a lengthy absence for the team’s captain, the Yankees manager grew a bit testy.
“What’s extended? Honestly, guys, with the timeline — we don’t have the timeline,” Boone said. “We don’t know. He got a shot in his toe [on Tuesday night]. I don’t have an answer for you. When we do, we’ll give you the best timeline we possibly can.
“To throw out a timeline right now that’s spread out, it may be way better than that. It may be worse than that.”