Yankees’ Aaron Judge to go on IL with flexor strain, expected to return this season

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees held their collective breath as they awaited the imaging results on star right fielder Aaron Judge’s right elbow Saturday morning. Manager Aaron Boone said after Saturday’s 9-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies that Judge has a flexor strain that will send him to the injured list, but he is expected to return this season.

“Good news,” said Boone, who noted that Judge’s UCL was intact.

Judge had difficulty throwing balls in from the outfield in Friday night’s 12-6 home loss to the Phillies, three days after wincing following a throw he made in Toronto.

Here’s the play in Toronto on Tuesday where Aaron Judge was wincing after a throw back to the infield.

Aaron Boone said Judge felt better on the off day, but then last night he was “really dealing with it” and “couldn’t throw well from the outfield.”pic.twitter.com/fRWa26HK2w

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) July 26, 2025

Boone and Judge each were hopeful that the 33-year-old would be able to return right after the 10-day IL stint. When Judge returns, he’ll be strictly a designated hitter for a while as he undertakes a throwing program to restore his ability to throw.

If Judge continued playing with the flexor strain, it might have put his ulnar collateral ligament in jeopardy. UCL tears are typically treated with Tommy John surgery, which would have meant Judge would have been out for approximately eight months at whatever point he decided to have the procedure.

Judge had a platelet-rich plasma injection, intended to speed up the recovery, early Saturday.

“Got to get that healed up,” Boone said.

The Yankees have started to have conversations with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton about potentially playing the outfield again, Boone said. Stanton hasn’t played a defensive position since 2023, and he appears cautious when he runs the bases. Boone said Stanton would need time to reacclimate to the outfield and that he most likely wouldn’t be an option until later this season.

It seemed likely that the Yankees would either call up outfielders Bryan De La Cruz or Everson Pereira to take Judge’s place. Though top prospect Spencer Jones has been mashing at Triple A, it’s unlikely they would call him up. Jones, 24, isn’t on the 40-man roster, and the Yankees want him to play every day — not serve in a fourth-outfielder role.

Judge appeared to first show signs of pain in his elbow in the seventh inning Tuesday when he tracked down a fly ball to the right-field warning track with one out and a runner on second base. He quickly turned around and fired back into the infield to hit the cutoff man. Immediately, he grimaced and clenched his fist.

But Judge pointed to a play earlier in the game as the culprit. He said he first felt pain on a sixth-inning throw to the plate.

He remained in the game, but served as the Yankees’ designated hitter on Wednesday. Boone told reporters on Wednesday that Judge was OK despite having appeared to have hurt himself on the play, and he added that his plan all along was to was for Judge to DH that day.

Judge went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and an RBI on Friday.

Though the Yankees feared a worst-case scenario, losing Judge for any amount of time could be devastating. Arguably the game’s best player, he entered Saturday leading the league in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.449), slugging percentage (.711) and OPS (1.160). He was tied for second in home runs with 37.

The Yankees were already expected to be active prior to the July 31 trade deadline. They traded for third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies on Friday, and it seemed likely they would try to add more pitching.

But there’s no way they could replace what Judge means to them on the field and off of it.

(Photo: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)