Yankees: Aaron Boone’s Gio Urshela injury update is surprisingly good

Yankees fans were — say it with me! — not thrilled to find out about Gio Urshela’s secret, late-in-the-game bone spur surgery in early December.

Following in the footsteps of other unmentioned surgeries like Didi Gregorius’ Tommy John drop following the 2018 ALDS and Luis Severino’s spring forearm soreness that had lingered since October, Urshela’s procedure was supposed to not impact his Opening Day availability.

But if you’re familiar with the Yankees, you’re well aware of how such things normally go.

First comes the injury, then comes the shrugging off, then comes the surgery a little too close to April for comfort — or, in Severino’s case, a far worse scenario.

That’s why we’re so pleased to announce that Urshela has arrived at spring training intact, resumed drills, and appears to be very much on the right track for a well-earned debut.

His throwing elbow bone spur surgery, which cleaned up an issue that hounded him throughout 2020 and sent him briefly to the IL, was expected to keep him out most of the spring and potentially through Opening Day.

Now? No lingering issues, and Aaron Boone stated Monday Urshela might even get into the very first spring game next Sunday.

Well, that’s a relief! A slight relief, since we all know more Clarke Schmidt-style non-reliefs are surely en route.

But it’s nice to briefly feel nice about something!

Gio Urshela might be good for the Yankees’ spring opener

What intel does Boone have here that’d help him more than most, you might ask?

Well, surely he knows all about the zip on Urshela’s throws from third base. After all, he was spotted subbing in for Luke Voit to catch him earlier this week.

That’s our manager.

Even in an injury-plagued campaign, Urshela followed his 2019 breakout with a .298/.368/.490 triple slash with six homers and 2.1 B-Ref WAR accrued in 2020, playing in 43 games total. You may also remember his series-turning grand slam off of James Karinchak in Game 2 in Cleveland, as well as his momentum-switch double play in the bottom of the eighth in that game.

Here’s to more iterations of the all-caps GIO URSHELA GAME this postseason, and Boone’s latest update on his rehabilitation means we’re closer than ever to getting the wizard at his very best this April.

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