{"id":123427,"date":"2026-06-04T22:51:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=123427"},"modified":"2026-06-04T22:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:57:51","slug":"judge-rib-fracture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/04\/judge-rib-fracture\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees’ Aaron Judge Diagnosed With First Rib Fracture"},"content":{"rendered":"
The New York Yankees will be without one of the best players in baseball for a while. It was announced Thursday night that slugger Aaron Judge<\/a> has been diagnosed with a rib fracture. <\/span><\/div>\n

Judge Diagnosed With Rib Fracture<\/span><\/h2>\n
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The #Yankees<\/a> say Aaron Judge has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side. This will require a period of rest and limited activity. He will be reimaged in approximately four to six weeks to determine level of healing and appropriate next steps.\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) June 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This injury will require significant rest and limited activity. His rib fracture will be reassessed in four to six weeks to determine the next step in his recovery process. <\/span><\/div>\n

Diagnosis Follows Weeks of Discomfort and MRI<\/span><\/h3>\n
Judge had been dealing with rib discomfort for the last few weeks, but attempted to play through it. Judge underwent an MRI<\/a> this past Tuesday, missing his first game of the season.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Since May 11, Judge has only batted .206. It is likely his rib fracture has played a role in those struggles. Manager Aaron Boone<\/a> seemingly confirmed this, saying that Judge did feel discomfort when he swung the bat<\/a>. <\/span><\/div>\n

Timetable For Return<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Yankees do expect Judge to return at some point in the regular season. However, it is unclear when. The four to six-week timetable is only to determine the next step of recovery, not a timetable for return. Judge will likely not return until August, though that is subject to change depending on how his rib heals. <\/span><\/div>\n

Yankees Hoping For Reinforcements<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Yankees have been bitten by the injury bug quite a few times this season. They are currently without Giancarlo Stanton<\/a> and Jasson Dominguez<\/a>, although Dominguez is starting a rehab assignment soon. Stanton’s return seems further away<\/a>, but the former MVP has been taking batting practice with the team. <\/span><\/div>\n

Corresponding Roster Move<\/span><\/h3>\n
Once Judge is placed on the injured list with his rib fracture, the team will need to call up someone to take his place on the roster. Spencer Jones<\/a> seems to be the most likely candidate. Jones was briefly on the roster when Dominguez was placed on the IL. <\/span><\/div>\n

Yankees Host Rivals Without Captain<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Yankees will host the rival Boston Red Sox this weekend. The Yankees\/Red Sox rivalry is always exciting to watch, but it will not be the same without Judge in the Yankees’ lineup.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"Aaron
Feb 24, 2026; Dunedin, Florida, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) smiles as he high fives in the dugout after he scored a run during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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For the Yankees, losing their captain will be a tough blow beyond this weekend. However, it does create an opportunity for someone to step up and perform in Judge’s place. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Photo: John Jones- Imagn Images<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Yankees will be without one of the best players in baseball for a while. It was announced Thursday night that slugger Aaron Judge has been diagnosed with a rib fracture. Judge Diagnosed With Rib Fracture The #Yankees say Aaron Judge has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":122635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,5,35,1],"tags":[501],"class_list":["post-123427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-yankees","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-aaron-judge"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123427"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123439,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123427\/revisions\/123439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}