The New York Yankees transferred Aaron Judge to the 60-day injured list Saturday, a corresponding move made to open a 40-man roster spot for newly signed right-hander Bradley Hanner.
Judge, a three-time American League MVP, has been out since June 5 with a stress fracture in his right first rib. Before the injury, the Yankees captain was batting .248 with 17 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS in 59 games.
The move to the 60-day injured list comes a day after the Yankees revealed that Judge's rib has not fully healed yet, despite showing some improvement on imaging performed over the All-Star break. He is still not cleared to resume baseball activities, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
“It is feeling better,” Judge said. “There were a couple of weeks that were tough and I really couldn’t do a lot, but now I’m feeling 10 times better."
Judge said he remains confident that he'll play again this season. Manager Aaron Boone shared the same optimism Frday, saying he feels good about Judge eventually returning, even without a firm date attached.
New York has gone 18-20 without Judge in the lineup, dropping to 54-43 overall and 2.5 games behind the first place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East after Friday's 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The lineup has leaned on Ben Rice to offset the missing power, with mixed results.
© John Jones-Imagn Images
Hanner was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after signing his major league deal.
With no clear return date and the August 3 trade deadline approaching, the Yankees may look to add outside help rather than wait on Judge alone to fix the offense.
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