UPDATE: Soto's X-rays came back negative, but don't expect him to be in Sunday's lineup, as Yankees insider Bryan Hoch mentioned on Saturday.
After a massive win on Friday night, the New York Yankees will be without Juan Soto on Saturday as the team awaits the X-ray results on his right hand. The star slugger slid into home plate the game prior and suffered some sort of what we can guess to be a minor injury.
Though he homered in his next at-bat after the incident, the Yankees appear to be proceeding with caution.
According to the early reports, Soto suffered a bruised hand but the severity is unknown. The Yankees already had to play it safe with him earlier this year when he was dealing with forearm soreness ahead of their much-anticipated series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But fans were concerned on Saturday because Soto was in the lineup until 20 minutes before the game when the team decided to scratch him. He's in the dugout and everything appears to be fine, but we can never be so sure.
The Yankees put Oswaldo Cabrera in right field as they currently trail the Jays after Nestor Cortes was chased from the game.
Juan Soto scratched from Yankees lineup as team awaits MRI results
The offensive surge from New York on Friday was a breath of fresh air after their recent string of play, but the morale factor of Soto being removed from the lineup hurts all over. We saw how it affected the team earlier this month, and it's hard to imagine things being much different this weekend.
He's arguably the Yankees' most important hitter, as the rest of the lineup outside of Aaron Judge either languishes or suffers from hot and cold spells.
Yankees fans remain on the edge of their seats for an update on Soto with New York enduring its worst stretch of the season. There's obviously the need for this to not continue to spiral, but Soto's long-term health takes precedent.
Just get it together before the break, have a trade deadline, and run train for August and September. Not too much to ask for.