New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge is "starting to feel better," according to manager Aaron Boone, though he remains weeks away from a scan to assess the healing of a stress fracture in his rib. The earliest imaging was anticipated to occur four to six weeks after the initial diagnosis.
Judge suffered the injury on April 26, and after attempting to play through the pain, underwent tests in early June. Since then, he has been unable to participate in baseball activities, although he has been able to work out in the weight room and strengthen his lower body.
"He was uncomfortable there for a while," Boone said Tuesday. "It seems like the normal stuff is starting to feel better, so hopefully that’s a good sign of hopefully some healing."
Boone indicated that Judge is still several weeks away from the scan that will check for healing of the rib fracture. Despite the lack of definitive progress, Boone described the feedback from Judge as improved.
"It does seem like this week he is starting to feel better, which is encouraging," Boone added. No definitive timetable for Judge's return has been established.
In other team news, Jazz Chisholm Jr. reported feeling better after a collision with teammate Jasson Domínguez on Monday, but Boone stated he would only be used in an emergency. Chisholm left Monday's game with concussion protocol concerns after being hit by Domínguez while making a catch. Jose Caballero started at second base on Tuesday.
Additionally, Cody Bellinger was sidelined for a second consecutive game amid a significant slump. In his last 12 games prior to Tuesday, Bellinger had a .122 batting average with a .396 OPS. "He'll get corrected and get it going here," Boone said of Bellinger. "Hopefully giving him at least the start off tonight kind of lets him take a step back for a second and hopefully get it going."