There were ill tidings in the Bronx on Saturday, as news broke early that Aaron Judge would have to miss the matinee against the Phillies to undergo testing on his elbow. The Yankees and Judge himself seemingly tried to keep it under wraps to see if it would get better on its own, but after a day of rest on Thursday, it started acting up again when Judge was making throws in from right field on Friday night.
So while the Yankees were getting walloped by the Phils for the second day in a row, the team
waited on bated breath for news of their star. Manager Aaron Boone had the report before media even made their way down to interview him. Judge has a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Flexor strain is the diagnosis for Judge right elbow. Will go on IL and will likely return as DH. Good news is that the UCL is intact, Aaron Boone said.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 26, 2025
There is no UCL damage, so no threat of Tommy John surgery, which would’ve been the worst-case scenario, as even if Judge and the team pushed it to the offseason, it would’ve affected his flexibility for the rest of 2025 and at best delayed his 2026.
As ESPN reporter and author of The Arm Jeff Passan noted though, flexor strains do carry their own scare as a potential precursor to Tommy John — though that is not guaranteed by any stretch.
The flexor mass is the bundle of muscles in the forearm that connects to the elbow and serves as a brake to take stress and strain off the UCL. Flexor injuries often precede those to the UCL, but they can be healed with rest. Time on IL varies and depends on severity of strain. https://t.co/YNIzN6ROR7
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 26, 2025
At least for now, the solution is just for Judge to rest. He will go on the 10-day IL and be a designated hitter in the short term when he returns. The Yankees will then try to see if he can play the outfield again. Relatedly, they are going to see if full-time DH Giancarlo Stanton has any ability to cover right field again, as they obviously can’t use them both at DH. The injury-prone Stanton has not appeared in the outfield since September 2023 and has played in under 100 games in the outfield this decade.
Some will immediately wonder if slugging prospect Spencer Jones will get a look with Judge out. But Jones himself is dealing with back spasms that kept him out of action for Triple-A Scranton on Friday night, and the team might well decide to keep the potential trade chip’s value where it is while deploying a Jasson Domínguez/Trent Grisham/Cody Bellinger outfield with someone less prominent coming up as a backup.
Pinstripe Alley will follow coverage of the news as it happens. This isn’t good news per se, but for now, it’s not absolute doom. Either way, don’t expect the Yankees to sell at the Trade Deadline when they still lead the Wild Card and have productive players like Bellinger, Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ben Rice, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón on their roster while the hopefully await their MVP’s return.
More from pinstripealley.com:
- Yankees acquire Ryan McMahon from Rockies for two prospects
- The Spencer Jones conundrum
- Yankees 2025 draft tracker: 18 of 19 draftees signed
- Yankees Trade Deadline Coverage
- The hitting genius of Aaron Judge
- Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees
- 2000 Yankees Diary: The 25th Anniversary of MLB’s Last Three-peat
