Through last Thursday’s contest against the Minnesota Twins, neither Juan Soto nor Aaron Judge had missed a game this season for the New York Yankees.
Soto, who has been the perfect left-handed complement to Judge in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup all season long, then missed three consecutive games with a forearm injury. Although he was progressing enough to swing a bat by the end of a weekend series against the Dodgers, he never left the bench. New York lost two of three games in the rare interleague series against Los Angeles.
The series opener between the Yankees and Royals will mark the first Yankees’ lineup this season without the freshly minted AL Player of the Week. Judge batted .500 last week (10-for-20) and hit three home runs to raise his league-leading total to 24.
According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, Judge’s absence is not serious cause for concern.
Judge had started each of the Yankees’ first 67 games this year — more than any player to this point in the season. The availability of Judge, the 2022 American League MVP, was instrumental in the Bronx Bombers’ best-in-MLB 46-21 record after missing the postseason entirely last year.
