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Aaron Judge may e back with the New York Yankees in just a few days.

The New York Yankees got news that sounded like a disaster for their sputtering season on July 26, when they were forced to put two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list with a right flexor strain. The injury is often considered a precursor to an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear, which requires Tommy John surgery.

While no time is a good time for a Judge injury, the Yankees would appear to need their superstar, who was in the midst of a historic offensive season at the time he was hurt, more than ever.

The Yankees blew a seven-game American League East lead, which they held as late as May 28, and sat 6 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays on the day Judge was placed on the IL.

Injury Interrupts Historic Season for Judge

Judge is the main reason their situation wasn’t even worse. With 37 home runs and an MLB-best 1.160 OPS, Judge also led the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, extra base hits, wins above replacement (WAR) and adjusted batting wins — among a few other categories.

When he announced that Judge would spend time on the injured list, Yankees manager Aaron Boone also said that he believed the 33-year-old would need no more than the minimum 10 days before he could return.

Sure enough, on Friday Boone told reporters that he expected Judge to be activated as early as Tuesday, the 11th day since going on the IL.

Judge would not play the outfield immediately on his return, initially being limited to a designated hitter role, Boone said.

Big Risks to Judge’s Early Return

But the Yankees’ announcement could be a risky one.

One alarm was sounded by former Yankees pitcher David Cone — a member of four World Series champion Yankees teams in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and now an analyst on Yankees TV broadcasts.

“You don’t want to mess with that arm,” Cone said during a broadcast this week. “One big throw could lead to something else.”

The Yankees’ plan to confine Judge to a DH role would appear to guard against any further injuries from throwing — injuries that could result in season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Hitting Also Dangerous With Flexor Strain

But sports injury expert Will Carroll, who appeared on the Foul Territory podcast to analyze Judge’s injury, said that the situation may not be that simple. Hitting is also a risk with an injury such as the flexor strain suffered by Judge, Carroll claimed.

“This is worse than the UCL tear,” Carroll asserted on the podcast. “Without this, [Judge] cannot play. … This doesn’t heal quickly. This small, little tendon, which overlaps with the UCL, often takes a month or even more to heal up. … For Judge, this is bad. For the Yankees, this is bad.”

In his Under the Knife newsletter, Carroll explained further why hitting could also endanger Judge’s elbow health.

“Even with a UCL sprain or rupture, Judge could play,” Carroll wrote. “Where a UCL isn’t involved in the swing, the flexor really is. A flexor strain changes everything for a power hitter like Judge. These are the muscles that let a hitter squeeze the bat, hold it steady, and then drive it through the zone.”

If Boone keeps to his word and Judge is back in the lineup on Tuesday, the Yankees should know soon afterward whether or not activating their star was a risky miscalculation.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin

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