NEW YORK — The Yankees have placed Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain, backdated to Friday, prior to Monday’s home opener against the Guardians at Yankee Stadium.
Judge hasn’t played since Thursday, when he exited New York’s 4-2 win over the Rangers in the fourth inning with what the team described as a small strain near his right groin, as confirmed by an MRI. Judge suffered the injury sliding his head into third base on Wednesday against the Twins.
“I think we knew it was a minor thing, but the risk we have in mind is we don’t want to put him in a situation where he goes out and waivers somewhere else, and the injury becomes something else or worse,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s the most important thing.
“He’s feeling so much better, his recovery has been good every day. The injury is minor, but we’re playing a long game here. At the same time, we don’t want to just say, ‘Oh, you’re at IL.’ We want to do an honest assessment of where he is.”
Although Judge was included in the third set for batting practice in Monday’s game, he did not appear in the preliminary game. Instead, Judge would do his work indoors, including warming up and throwing.
In a similar move, New York recalled player/outfielder Franchie Cordero from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Cordero was optioned to Triple-A over the weekend, but returned to the club on Sunday in Texas as a member of the taxi squad.
The most valuable player in the American League, Judge bats at .261/.352/.511 with six home runs and 14 RBI in 26 games this season. He played in 157 of the 162 regular season games in New York last year.
“I think Aaron is a realist. He understands what is at stake and that it is important,” Boone said.