Yankees captain Judge's rib check shows signs of healing but far from ready for training return

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge had a new scan of his broken right rib taken during the All-Star break. Although the images showed some evidence of recovery, it is still far from enough to allow the Yankees leader to resume baseball activities.

Judge underwent the imaging test on Thursday. The injury is believed to have occurred in late April during an attempted diving catch on the road against Houston, and he has not played since May 31.

“We did see some progress—signs of healing, but not complete yet,” Judge said at Yankee Stadium today. “We’re waiting for another doctor to give the final assessment on how to proceed in the coming weeks. But seeing that it’s starting to heal is definitely a positive sign.”

Judge revealed that the team is awaiting a final evaluation of the results from Dr. Gregory Pearl, a specialist in Dallas, while team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad has already reviewed the images. A Yankees spokesperson later released a cautiously worded statement confirming that the scan showed healing but not enough to allow baseball activities, and that a full rehabilitation progression plan would follow, with another imaging check before resuming activity.

Due to the injury, Judge said he has been limited to lower-body and neck exercises, unable to do any upper-body or overhead lifting. “It definitely feels a lot better,” Judge said. “There were a few weeks that were really tough—I could barely do anything. But now I feel ten times better. My biggest complaint is, since I feel so much better, can I at least start moving a little? But I think they’re worried that if I add baseball activity too soon and the injury flares up, everything would have to start over.”

The Yankees front office has consistently maintained that they expect Judge to return during the regular season. Mid-to-late August might be the best-case scenario, but it could also stretch into September. Manager Aaron Boone responded, “We just have to keep waiting and let the body heal naturally. I’m very confident that he will come back—it’s just a matter of when. Without a doubt, we all desperately want Aaron Judge back in the lineup.”

When directly asked whether he firmly believes he will definitely return this season, Judge answered without hesitation in the affirmative.

Once he does get the green light to play, Judge said he doesn’t think he’ll need a full spring-training-style rehab process. “I really hate playing rehab games, so I’ll have to negotiate with them on that,” Judge joked. “Why waste at-bats on rehab games? We’ll see.”

Judge traced the rib fracture back to a diving attempt on April 26 during a road game against the Astros. He continued playing with pain for over a month, until his discomfort became impossible to hide during the road series against the Athletics in late May.

As the reigning AL MVP, Judge has hit 17 home runs and 38 RBIs with a .248/.375/.533 slash line over 59 games this season. He said maintaining patience has been extremely difficult. “This period has been really tough—I just want to play so badly,” Judge said. “That’s why I’m here, and that’s what I’m paid for—to play these important games for the Yankees.”