Yankees May Begin Season Without Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton

The timelines for Judge and Stanton are similar, with the team showing caution for the sluggers, who also struggled with injuries last season.

Judge underwent a magnetic resonance imaging examination last month, when he reported discomfort in his shoulder after throwing and swinging. Boone said at the time that Judge’s test showed nothing abnormal beyond soreness.

After some rest, Judge resumed gradual throwing and hitting programs. But as those increased last week, Judge told the Yankees that he felt something in the area of his right chest. He had yet to take batting practice outdoors or play in a spring training game.

In September, Judge jammed the same shoulder while diving for a ball in the outfield, but he played the rest of the season and postseason. Despite his prodigious talent, Judge has been slowed by injuries. Since being the American League rookie of the year in 2017, he has been limited to 214 games because of a broken right wrist and a torn left oblique.

Things have been worse for Stanton. Since being acquired by the Yankees before the 2018 season, he has struggled to stay on the field. He played in 158 of the Yankees’ 162 regular-season games in 2018, but appeared in 18 last season. In 2019 alone, he dealt with a left biceps tear, a balky left shoulder, a left calf strain, a sprained ligament in his right knee and a right quadriceps strain.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/sports/baseball/aaron-judge-giancarlo-stanton-yankees.html