That sinking feeling we have about the Yankees’ Aaron Judge

Although the Yankees don’t open up the 2020 regular-season until March 26 in Baltimore, Aaron Judge has yet to appear in a Spring Training game due to a sore right shoulder that is due for more testing in New York next week.

With three and a half weeks left until the start of the regular season, there’s concern beginning to brew that Aaron Judge won’t be in the Yankees Opening Day lineup versus the Orioles.

On Saturday, Judge arrived to the Yanks’ clubhouse at 10 AM after undergoing tests on his sore right shoulder. With initial results of the MRI coming back negative, Judge is scheduled for a more substantial evaluation on Monday back in New York.

Judge, who is feeling pain under his pectoral muscle, took batting practice for the second straight day on Friday and was able to throw from 120 feet without any discomfort.

As Brendan Kuty of NJ.com reports, Judge didn’t feel right in the cage, leading manager Aaron Boone to say:

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"“We’re just kind of in a holding pattern with it, trying to figure out what exactly’s going on there.”"

It’s terrifying — that the Yankees once again face the uncertainty of not knowing what is plaguing one of their star performers. The unenviable position of possibly losing a player like Judge for a time TBD is wearing thin and evokes memories of Judge missing 110 games in total over the past two seasons.

While we can all hope and pray that the 2017 AL Rookie of the Year shakes off whatever is ailing him in time for the team’s trip to Baltimore, keeping the faith is being tested, what with the loss of Luis Severino and Giancarlo Stanton just this week.

Sure, Stanton should rebound from his Grade 1 calf strain without needing to go on the 10-day IL, but we also shouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees Opening Day outfield consists of Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier, and Miguel Andujar.

Yes, it’s still way too early to make lineup predictions. I’m just saying after witnessing 30 players go on the shelf in 2019 — and significant injuries already piling up before March, nothing should come as a shock for the 2020 season.