New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said Saturday he has a torn ligament in his right big toe and is experiencing pain when he walks.
When the Yankees placed Judge on the injured list June 6, the team said he was dealing with a contusion and a sprained ligament in his right big toe. There remains no timetable for the return of the reigning American League MVP.
“I’ve got to knock out the rehab stuff,” Judge said. “I’ve had different injuries over the years where it’s going to take a while. It’s not going to be perfect here in a couple of weeks. Once we can manage the pain, we’re going to be in a good spot.”
Judge added: “I don’t think too many people in here have torn a ligament in their toe. If it was a quad, we’d have a better answer. If it’s an oblique or hamstring, we have answers and a timeline for that. With how unique this injury is, and it being my back foot, which I push off of and run off of, it’s a tough spot.”
Judge’s comments come two days after the Yankees said the slugger could potentially start baseball activities this weekend. Judge did rehab work in a pool Wednesday and was hoping to progress to throwing and light hitting.
Manager Aaron Boone said Saturday he expects Judge to return this season but did not provide any guarantees.
“The reality is, we’re without him right now and we’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Boone said. “We have the people in there to get it done, we just got to do a better job right now of putting pressure on the opposing pitchers and defense.”
Judge suffered the injury June 3 after slamming his toe against the fence at Dodger Stadium while making a catch in the outfield.
He spent time on the 10-day IL in late April and May because of a right hip strain. The Yankees are 31-19 with Judge in the lineup, but entered play Saturday 10-16 when he’s on the IL.
Judge set an American League record with 62 home runs last year. He is hitting .291 with 19 homers and 40 RBIs in the first season of a $360 million, nine-year contract he agreed to during the offseason.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.