Yankees’ Superstar Offseason Acquisition Will Miss a Game With Back Injury

The New York Yankees will be without their superstar outfielder due to a recent back injury, though the move seems precautionary.

Mar 27, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) follows through on an RBI sacrifice fly during the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees have had a tough time with their injury luck to start the season. With 11 players already on the injured list, they have had plenty of setbacks in that department.

With Gerrit Cole out for the season due to Tommy John surgery, keeping their remaining talents around as much as possible and giving them ample time to recover from any smaller-scale injuries is going to be key.

This is going to be the case with superstar outfielder Cody Bellinger, who will be held out of the lineup against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday due to back stiffness. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reported this along with Aaron Boone's comments that the back stiffness was bothering Bellinger during the previous matchup, so the team did not want to push things after arriving early in the morning for Friday's series opener.

Bellinger has had a slightly slow start to the year, slashing .238/.296/.381 with six RBI, one home run, one stolen base, six strikeouts and three walks. His defense has been as strong as ever, though, as he's yet to make an error in 15 chances in the field.

Ultimately this sounds more like a precautionary measure than anything, and hopefully things will clear up for Bellinger in the coming days and he can return to the lineup for the remainder of the series. Having him out for any number of games is difficult, but keeping him healthy long-term is much more important to New York's success this season.