Initially, when Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger got hurt on Saturday, it was believed that the injury was not overly serious. Dealing with a hamstring strain, the All-Star and former NL MVP was even seen doing some light jogging in left field on Sunday before the series finale in Philadelphia.
Well, perhaps he shouldn’t have done that, at least not yet. Results of tests performed on Bellinger’s left hamstring came on Monday, and it was revealed that he is dealing with a Grade 2 hamstring strain,
per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. As a result, he is expected to be sidelined for 4-to-6 weeks.
Losing Bellinger represents yet another blow to an offense that is already missing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. The outfielder is hitting .259/.350/.420 with 11 home runs, 10 stolen bases, a 119 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR in 2026, his second season in pinstripes.
With Bellinger out of action for the time being, Spencer Jones is expected to take on a significant role with the Yankees, with utility option Max Schuemann also seeing some time against southpaws. The team, however, needs to go to the trade market and bring in a relevant bat.
We are not talking about just a catcher to share time with Austin Wells, no. We are talking about how the Yankees need to go out and acquire a productive outfielder to avoid falling too far down in the race for the AL East. Judge and Stanton aren’t particularly close to making it back, and every single game counts.
Bellinger spent much of the summer struggling to put up good numbers, but was starting to heat up, and the injury interrupts a nice little stretch he enjoyed from July 9-25. Over that span, the sweet-swinging lefty slashed a cool .372/.438/.465 with four doubles, six runs, three RBI, and a 161 wRC+.
