New York Yankees captain and reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge exited Thursday night's game with the Texas Rangers (NYY 3, TEX 2) with right hip discomfort, the Yankees announced (per Newsday). He left the game in the fourth inning and was replaced in right field by Oswaldo Cabrera.
Judge subsequently underwent an MRI ahead of Saturday's game versus the Texas Rangers. It revealed that he has a mild strain near the top of his hip, according to Jack Curry of YES Network. The Yankees intend to give Judge until at least Monday before making a decision on whether or not to place him on the injured list. (Teams can backdate IL stints up to three days, provided the player has not since appeared in a game.)
Judge rolled over on his right wrist during an awkward slide Wednesday, but remained in the game. At the time, cameras caught him flexing his right hand after a swing in the second inning Thursday. It's unclear if the hip discomfort is related to the awkward slide Wednesday, but the wrist is an apparent non-factor.
Judge went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts prior to exiting Thursday's game. He entered the game with a .267/.358/.522 batting line and six home runs.
Needless to say, losing Judge for any length of time would be a devastating blow to a Yankees offense the entered play Thursday hitting .232/.308/.392 as a team. They rank 20th among the 30 teams with an average of 4.32 runs scored per game. Taking Judge away from that offense for even a few games would be an enormous loss.
The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries early on this season. They're currently without their No. 2 (Carlos Rodón) and No. 3 (Luis Severino) starters, their starting center fielder (Harrison Bader), their DH (Giancarlo Stanton), their top setup man (Jonathan Loàisiga), and several other depth arms.
Judge returned to the Yankees on a massive nine-year, $360 million contract this past offseason. The Yankees named him the 16th captain in franchise history soon thereafter.
