NEW YORK -- Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said the stress fracture in his right rib stems from him diving for a ball in late April and he played through discomfort for over a month until the pain became unbearable over the weekend in Sacramento.
The three-time American League MVP declined to discuss a possible timeline to return to play. The Yankees on Thursday night announced he will be re-imaged in four to six weeks before deciding the next steps. They expect him to return this season.
"Very disappointed," Judge said before the Yankees' series opener against the Red Sox. "That's why we went through every measure we could to get an expert to take a look to see what was going on in there, but definitely not what you want to hear -- any fracture or anything like that."
Judge underwent X-rays, a CT scan and an MRI this week as the club attempted to pinpoint the injury.
He was also evaluated by Dr. Gregory Pearl, a thoracic outlet management specialist. Judge insisted he never thought he was dealing with a thoracic outlet issue, which would likely have knocked him out for the remainder of the season.
"I kind of felt the symptoms for the past month and we did everything we could to make sure, we could be out there," Judge said. "In Sacramento it just got a little worse. So, I fought it as long as I could."
Judge said the stress fracture is "near the same spot" as the stress fracture he suffered when he dove for a ball in September 2019. He played through the injury through the end of the season and was diagnosed with the injury in March 2020. He didn't miss any games, however, because the start of the season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manager Aaron Boone said Judge will be shut down from baseball activities for now.
"Obviously you're not going to replace Aaron Judge, and we all know how important he is to our club, but we're also very confident in our ability to go out there and absolutely have the expectation to continue to win games," Boone said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.