MLB insider strongly cautions Yankees' Aaron Judge to change his rehab strategy after latest injury

If you’re an athlete, the last thing you ever want to do is miss playing time because of an injury. Not only does it hurt physically, but it’s a bit of an emotional wound to feel like you could be letting your team down. Even for stars like Aaron Judge, the frustration is very real. 

But according to one MLB insider, the star’s preferred rehab strategy likely cost the New York Yankees dearly. In fact, it cost them a chance to have their best player during their Wild Card Series matchup against the Boston Red Sox. 

While speaking on the The Baseball Insiders podcast, FanSided’s Robert Murray offered up his take on what led to Judge suffering a calf strain just days after returning to the Yankees lineup. And it’s something so simple that it may frustrate fans.  

According to Murray, Judge will have to “change up his strategy” when it comes to returning from injury. He noted that the Yankees star has been resistant to rehab assignments throughout his career. That preference could have led to some unintended consequences this season. 

“And I would definitely imagine that not having a rehab assignment and working his way back up is what contributed to this injury ultimately end up happening,” Murray said of Judge’s most recent injury setback. 

Now that the Yankees are without their best player once again this season, it is probably time to change things up. 

How can the Yankees best manage Aaron Judge's injury rehab process moving forward? 

You could argue that a player could get injured just as easily playing in a minor league rehab assignment as they could in the majors. That might be true to a certain extent. But rehab assignments in minor league parks simply lack the same energy as a big league game. 

There’s less of an incentive to stretch a single into a double or dive for a bloop single in front of you. For a player like Judge who always gives it his all, learning how to dial it down in the minor leagues could go a long way in preserving himself in the majors. Rehab assignments are thought of as essential to the ramp-up process for a reason. They help get a recovering body ready for the spotlight.

In his 11-year big league career, Judge has been placed on the IL nearly a dozen times. However, he’s only been on one rehab assignment during that time. In June 2019, the Yankees outfielder played five games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before rejoining the team. He remained healthy that season until missing a game in September due to a sore shoulder.  

Was that rehab assignment solely responsible for his long-term health? Probably not. But it may have helped Judge get back in the swing of things more effectively. Despite going 0-10 in his first three games back from that rehab assignment, he then went 8-14 over his next four games, including two home runs. 

After missing three entire months this season, Judge jumped straight into the Yankees lineup and struggled through seven games. Judge collected just four hits in his 23 at-bats after returning from his IL stint. There was certainly a decent amount of rust for Judge to shake off from his prolonged layoff.  

Although he struck out in more than half of those at-bats, there were also some promising signs that showed that he was starting to find his rhythm at the plate again. He smacked a three-run home run off of reliever A.J. Minter during the Yankees 8-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on September 14. It looked like he could potentially be gearing up for a major hot streak exactly when the Yankees could really use the help. 

That hot streak obviously never happened, and Judge may not be able to return to the Yankees in the postseason.

As we’ve seen with the Los Angeles Dodgers and their lackluster approach to Shohei Ohtani’s injury, players can sometimes be unreliable when it comes to reporting discomfort or adhering to the best rehab practices. Ball players want to play ball. Everyone can understand that. But taking a conservative approach to injuries for players that have long histories with the IL could actually allow them to play when it matters the most. Judge wanted to rejoin the Yankees as quickly as possible, but it likely led to him missing even more games. Now the team’s offense may suffer for it. 

They may not always like it, but players like Judge should be required to go on a rehab assignment moving forward. If they can't slowly ramp up their level of play, they may jump straight back into another injury.

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