8:00pm: Judge has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 oblique strain and has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, the team told reporters (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).
9:17am: Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is unlikely to return from an oblique injury suffered last night, Sweeny Murti of WFAN reports on Twitter. Fellow young outfielder Mason Williams will be called up to take his place.
[Related: Updated Yankees Roster]
Judge, 24, made his highly-anticipated major league debut this year after a strong run at Triple-A. Over 410 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, the massive slugger posted a .270/.366/.489 batting line with 19 long balls.
The first taste of the majors hasn’t been quite as smooth for Judge, who has whiffed 42 times in 95 plate appearances. His .179/.263/.345 slash leaves quite a bit to desire, though he has launched four big league homers.
Really, the early struggles aren’t of particular concern; it’s worth noting, too, that Judge needed time to adapt at Triple-A. And the injury isn’t likely to be a major problem. But it will prevent him from getting some more plate appearances under his belt, and could conceivably interrupt offseason training or winter ball plans.
It’s not clear that the injury will really impact the offseason plans of the Yankees, who likely already viewed Judge as a work in progress heading into 2017. GM Brian Cashman has already suggested that the club won’t look to add outfielders over the winter.
That approach is based in some part on the availability of other potentially useful players such as Williams, a former top prospect who only just turned 25. His prospect star has faded in recent years, with injuries playing a limiting role, so the move won’t come with much fanfare. This will be Williams’s second run at the majors — he had a nice, but very brief, call-up last year — and it comes on the heels of a 31-game stint at Triple-A in which he slashed .296/.313/.376.
Wow, both Judge and Austin’s lines are simply brutal – after all the press they’ve gotten one would think the Yankees had a new core 4, instead they have failing prospects and Sanchez, who has been great but also hasn’t really been challenged yet.
That’s the NY hype machine for ya’
The NY Hype machine is the same machine that every team in the majors has.
Case in point.,…the KC Royals after their success last year was supposed to be a dynasty for years to come. Look where they are today.
Unfortunately, player decisions based on payroll, injuries, and the rest of the league scouting them a bit differently made all that dynasty stuff pretty impossible to follow up on.
Tell me the hype of prospects of the Red Sox or the Dodgers, or the Cubs (see Scwarber as the next Babe Ruth) isn’t less than in NY…..PLEASE give me a break.
“Case in point.,…the KC Royals after their success last year was supposed to be a dynasty for years to come. Look where they are today.”
They made 2 WS in a row, that’s insanely hard to do, you fail on this. The NY media hype machine is 10,000 times bigger than any other teams, FACT. Mets and Boston are next but they’ve had enough fails in their recent histories to not be so arrogant about their prospects, like the Yankees continually are.
The Dodgers literally never talk about their prospects. Can you imagine Seager if he was a Yankee? They’d have a daily hype blog about him.
Blame should be upon the sport writers who over hype their favorite team’s prospects. ESPN is very bias in their love for east coast teams. Aarron Judge is a good prospect but being a Yank he is over hyped because of the hope for a yank championship. He was brought up to soon and needs another year in the minors. He will end up being a good corner outfielder with some power but not a franchise type of player. On most other teams it would be another call up for a good prospect.
The Royals are only 5 games out of the WC spot and have not had Moustakas all year, and still are probably the one team no one int he AL wants to see in the playoffs, it isn’t like the Royals are a last place team now they are still very competitive. They might even finish with a better record than the Yankees still.
This is a great reply. Everyone take note.
Also no lights out closer in Holland, no Hochevar, Collins, Vargas or Medlen – basically playing all year with no 5th starter and half their bullpen and they are STILL over .500 – not to mention Schwarber might actually still be the next Babe Ruth – he’s hurt, not stinking up the joint like Judge. What a fail comment that was by Rocky7.
“The Dodgers literally never talk about their prospects”
Lol what? How dies a team not talk about their prospects? They just let whoever shows up play?
New York prospects aren’t overhyped by major media outlets, their struggles and triumphs are just more magnified by the larger — and frankly more reactionary — New York media market. The larger market means more newspapers, more news stations, etc., so there are more voices calling attention to it.
The Twins have had a huge number of prospects from their vaunted farm system fail (at least so far) in Arcia, Buxton, Berrios, Meyer and, to a lesser extent, Gibson and Rosario. Same for the Astros (Singleton, Moran, Folty thus far, Appel) and the Royals (Zimmer, Starling, Jorge Bonifacio, Lamb, Ventura thus far). You can do it with virtually any team. D-backs? Archie Bradley, Matt Davidson, Chris Owings. Mariners? Zunino, Paxton, Walker, Hultzen, Ackley, Franklin.
Go look at any top 100 prospect list. Most of them either fail completely or turn into average or forgettable players. From 2014’s BA list: Archie Bradley, Eddie Butler, Taijuan Walker, Jon Gray, Yordano Ventura, Carl Edwards, Travis d’Arnaud, Mark Appel, Henry Owens, Colin Moran, Chris Owings, Erik Johnson, Christian Bethancourt, Matt Davidson, Jake Marisnick, Jon Singleton, Allen Webster, Michael Choice… prospect lists are riddled with players that “don’t justify the hype.”
Judge hasn’t had anywhere near the hype surrounding him that someone like Jay Bruce did in Cincinnati, and no one’s accusing the media of overstating the value of prospects out of Ohio. Plus, we’re looking at 95 plate appearances. Killing him for striking out a lot, when virtually every report on him said he’d do is as silly as proclaiming him a star after he homered in his first two games.
Lmao at this only 5 games out with 17 to play
How can you call Walker a failure if he’s only 24?
While I completely agree with your general point, I have to question a few of the specifics. Folty has had a nice year overall for the Braves and looks to be at least a solid #4 with upside going forward. Zunino has been extremely good since his latest call up, hard to call him a clear bust at this point. Walker’s a bit young to rule out, while Paxton has generally been very effective when healthy (I know, big caveat). Even for Franklin, I’d say jury is still out. Edwards has looked lights out at times in the pen this year, which, if the Yankees’ trade deadline showed us anything, is extremely valuable if he fully harnesses it. Even Ventura has had a couple very effective seasons before this year’s clunker.
Biggest dispute I have with this list though would have to be the inclusion of Jon Gray, who for much of the season has looked like a budding ace over in Colorado. Look past the slightly bloated ERA and you’ll see very strong peripherals even before adding in park factors. If anything, Gray has been a major hit for Colorado thus far.
I know I’ve written a lot for a very minor objection, but just felt the need to say something. Feels like some of these guys get an unnecessarily bad rap.
Go back to Beantown!
Maybe, woulda, coulda, keep my fingers crossed.
PLEASE!!!!!
Thanks Steve for the insightful comments that are right on.
Just need to hear less of the Beantown Homer commenters like Just Another Fan.
OH Yes…..I’m sure Schwarber should already be in the Hall of Fame according to Lame commenter Just Another Fan.
I say again, this would be a good column with out your thoughts.
Lol. Says the Boston fan.
How can they be considered failures? They have only been in the majors since August.
Not understanding and making adjustments to an MLB strike zone at age 24 usually does a prospect in.
Yeah, most prospects make extreme pitch recognition improvements in less than a month. Baseball is an easy game.
Its not but thanks for posting. Judge’s K+BB rates all throughout his minor league career all pointed to this happening.
Nevermind, come back here and prove me wrong in a year – you won’t because Judge will have 25 homers with a .620 OPS and on the trading block.
Well, he does have about 25 home runs…
Someone in the Yankees should have stood up for them and said less national tv appearances playing in NY is enough pressure for any young player some veterans can’t even handle it, too much was put on their plates.
The point was to give them exposure given the circumstances of both
a) trying to get younger and more athletic, and b) also the pressure of a pennant race which by the way has happened because of points A and B.
The Yankees needed to find out just what they thought they had and the results TEAM wise have been pretty good. Remember the TEAM…. concept. Everyday, its somebody else that steps up or steps down. That’s the way you build a ball club.
They haven’t been great but you can’t put them into the same category as Swihart and Vazquez as proven failures. Still tremendous upside for them.
One of the classic posts here that is just hilariously empty…
Not only was Swihart hurt this season and other than that? He’s been productive when with the bat and moved back to catching it seems for 2017, with C-Vaz the always defensive specialist not finished by any means..
These were 2 examples listed as supposed “failures” , yet what of the 6 newly found from within beginning in 2017 aged 27 and under not counting C-Vaz and Swihart? Even if Vazquez’s bat doesn’t improve, he along with Leon’s glove (and arm) would form quite possibly the finest glove tandem going.
That NYY farm system has a LOT of catching up to do, other than throwing around 2 names who will still help Boston down the road.
Swihart isn’t considered a catcher by any serious observer. He was arguably the worst defensive catcher in baseball before they moved him. His ceiling at this point is David Murphy although it is highly doubtful he will every be that productive offensively or defensively.
Vazquez’ glove wasn’t good enough to earn him the backup job this year. Maybe they let him backup next year since he would only get one start a week. Backup catchers are a dime a dozen so he has little trade value.
Wow, you really like those nicknames…CVAZ, EROD….just put them in the Hall right now, why wait.
And, for the critics of the NY Yankees farm system, lets just let time tell the story, as they are much better off than they were a year ago.
What a silly comment proven failures cmon man you obviously don’t have a clue. Swihart is most surely not a bust he will hit at the big league level injuries have slowed him down. He will be a catcher his defensive statistics are actually average at worst he was simply the scapegoat for a poor starting rotation. The knock on him is maybe the game he calls he is a good athlete and will catch in the majors and I’m quite sure if he is traded it will be as a catcher. He is still very young and new to catching overall and was rushed to the big leagues. Vasquez might just be a backup catcher but he still will have value. I think the Yankees are doing a good job of retooling and I think There is still plenty of time for Judge to be good, his strikeout rate is very alarming though. Just don’t call Swihart and Vasquez proven failures that is just not the case jury is still very much out on those two as well.
Blah, blah, blah! Same old Red Sox bullspit.
lol
they’re all a bust.
Chill, they all don’t have enough at bats to make judgements. They’re all prospects who have upside people dream on like every single organization. Left it go
It’s their first taste of the bugs, calm yourself, not every prospect can’t start off like Sanchez did. Even Mike Trout had an awful stat line his first run around in the bigs
Bigs * ugh
So two months is enough to write off Judge but not enough to evaluate Sanchez? Prospects take different routes to success, if they find it at all. Mike Schmidt hit 195 as a rookie and Greg Maddux was 6-14 with a 5.61 era. Austin is a bench player and wasn’t a hyped prospect.
Why would comp Judge’s cup of coffee with Schmidt’s first full season when Schmidt had a cup of coffee too???
Schmidt never had a 44.2 K% at any level. Judge is another Sam Horn at best, although his defense might allow him more time. He’s also pretty old for a prospect.
I love how we had to read about these scrubs when Boston has actual All-Stars in Betts and Bogaerts, who are younger than all these Yankees hype-busts.
You Red Sox trolls are too funny.
So now we understand….just another Red Sox troll making negative comments about anything Yankee.
lol I’m not a Red Sox fan, as a fan I hate them too. I’m just not an arrogant homer like you all are, and can view every team in the game without rose colored glasses – you should try it sometime!
Then you’re just an ignorant fan. Based on 80 plate appearance Mike trout was a complete bust…get a clue
You know that you didn’t HAVE to read about “these scrubs” right?
Huh? Its on this site, my fave one to post on and talk about – of course I do!
Is there a list (with 2016 stats) of all the MLB “call ups” – to see how they’re all doing … without tagging each individual player off each teams’ roster ?
Baseball Ref has debuts for each season arranged by WAR I seem to remember a page that has all the stats too but cant seem to find it atm.
baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2016-debuts.sht…
baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2016-rookies.sh…
Just sort from 2016-2016 for players that debuted this year and not players that still have rookie intact.
Thank you, Phil !
Will try….
Great links!
Dang Tyler Anderson is GOOD. Rockies have a nice future if they can figure out a bullpen. If they signed Rich Hill they’d be a legit threat in 2017.
Why won’t they call up Clint Frazier already? He deserve a shot to play.
He’s hitting .228/.278/.396 as a Yankee prospect and isn’t on the 40-man. Not worth it yet, still has something to prove.
Judge still has time to adjust to major league pitching. Austin is was never the caliber prospect that Judge and Sanchez were.
Pitchers have adjusted to Sanchez and his .214 BA his last 61 plate appearances prove it. Real question is can he adjust back? Getting a mistake pitch for a Yankee stadium cheapy doesn’t count.
Yup, this is exactly what I’m talking about. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sanchez fell off as hard as Bryan LaHair did, but also wouldn’t surprise me if he was a superstar.
Judge on the other hand, yikes. He is legit bad at hitting. I’d be more excited for the return of Bird than Judge breaking out.
what about the 2hr’s the 2 previous days that were bombs. He is what he is. A .275ba power hitting catcher.
And Judge is what he is…. a 45% strike out .174BA outfielder.
This may actually be good for Judge. He is clearly struggling against MLB pitching. Give him some to decompress and spend time studying video in an attempt to develop a more advanced approach at the plate
Finally someone with a brain. There is no way the Yankees could have thought this team would play as good as they have post trade deadline. It was all about getting some chips back in trades and giving the young guys a chance to start adapting now, rather than the start of next season. Exposure and experience.
I’m not sure why everyone is going nuts over this. I like what the Yankees did at the deadline–they got younger and more athletic. And I like them bringing up the prospects and giving them a chance. Some are going to have success, and some not, but what better time than in a time when the Yankees are pivoting on roster management. Maybe Judge will never be a player–there are other prospects who, hopefully, will. In the meantime, the team is playing better than anyone expected, and giving the kids a chance to play in games with something at stake. For the first time in several years, I feel optimistic.
As a Yankee fan I never got the hype around Judge. The Yanks had and have acquired some great talent in the minors, but anyone who Ks as often as Judge is not a top prospect until he can get the # closer to a 20% k-rate, which is a tough hill to climb.
Why would any team place someone on the 15 DL in September? 60 day or nothing.
After the world series, all players have to be added back to the roster.
Just got to hope that Judge can fix his strikeout issues over the winter through Spring Training. It does seem like a mental issue that Judge is having. Most professional MLB players don’t swing at bad pitches away from the strikezone multiple times in one at-bat. And sometimes it does look to me that he’s standing a bit too far off the plate in the box, but I would guess that it’s because of his huge size. But Cashman said that Judge would have to compete for the starting spot at Right Field. The only competition I can think of is Refsnyder and Frazier.
Is judge still qualify for rookie of the year next year because he be on dl
They are rookies. Most do not start as well as Sanchez. Look at Bradley Jr. in Boston. Took him a couple years before he started hitting along with some of their other young guys. First up in major leagues with a team like Yankees pressure for playoffs run has to be tough for most call ups.