Yankee Captain Aaron Judge Receives MRI, Opening Day In Question

The Bronx Bombers' biggest star underwent an MRI on his abs on Tuesday.

The hits keep coming for the New York Yankees - even if they get the best-case scenario.

According to beat reporter Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, team captain Aaron Judge had an MRI on his abs out of an abundance of precaution. The tests thankfully came back clean - but Judge, refusing to take any chances, will not swing a bat until later this week.

Another report from Hoch contained Judge elaborating on how and why he was feeling the discomfort in his abs, which fortunately was not an oblique injury. The 31-year-old superstar apparently got off to an early start in his offseason training and has been swinging a bat every day since November, in an effort to refine his swing mechanics since his right toe injury that sidelined him for over a month in the 2023 season. Despite the MRI, the "wear-and-tear" comment from team manager Aaron Boone appears to be correct as Judge used the exact same phrase to describe his discomfort.

"We ran tests and everything came back good," Judge said. "It's just what I told them, I was a little banged up and needed a couple of days. Hopefully we'll get back out there soon."

Regarding Opening Day, Judge is fairly confident that he'll be ready.

"I don't want to speculate or talk about anything that hasn't come yet," Judge said. "The most important thing is taking some time now and getting back out there soon."

In yet another report from Hoch, Judge also mentioned team ace Gerrit Cole's MRI, which he underwent on Monday. According to Judge, the reigning AL Cy Young winner also did it out of an abundance of precaution. Even if Cole is sidelined for a couple of weeks, Judge would rather have his teammate available for the long run and have him checked out ASAP.

"I'll take that over anything worse," Judge said. "I know he's not bouncing back the way he is, but that guy's a perfectionist. We're all praying for the best."

Even if the MRIs were done out of precaution and both Judge and Cole are fine, these injury scares to the two cornerstones of the entire team have the Yankees and their fans understandably nervous. 

The Yankees are doing everything in their power to return to both the playoffs and the World Series in 2024, and injuries to both their best hitter and pitcher would make that goal significantly harder to achieve.