Aaron Judge’s injury-hit 2026 MLB campaign has left the New York Yankees without their captain for crucial stretches, and now a specialist at NYU Langone Health has outlined the demanding rehabilitation process required before the slugger can safely return to full baseball activities.
Judge initially suffered a right rib stress fracture in late April, an injury that sidelined him for 84 games and after working toward a comeback, he sustained a right soleus calf strain on September 16, ending his season before he could help New York when it mattered most.
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Now Dr. Natasha N. Desai, a sports medicine and orthopedics specialist at NYU Langone Health, explains that rehabilitation must progress through several stages, beginning with recovery from the acute injury before rebuilding strength and flexibility.
"The first step is getting rid of the acute bleeding and injury, which I'm hoping he is over with," Dr. Desai said on The Injury Report. "The next step is going to be rebuilding strength. Once he has met the criteria of at least 80-90% of regaining of strength, then we really focus on the flexibility."
She added that physical therapists would assess Judge through tests including heel raises and flexibility exercises. He must pass those assessments before progressing to plyometric activities such as running and jumping, with baseball-specific work following later.
"There's some testing that physical therapists are going to do with him, from heel raises to flexibility testing that he will need to pass before he's even cleared to do any plyometrics - running, jumping, things like that," Dr. Desai added. "Then he'll go into baseball. We'll see him doing hitting, catching and throwing drills a lot sooner than running bases.”
Judge gutted as Yankees miss World Series
Judge's absence proved costly as New York's postseason ended in a three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees lost 4-3 on Wednesday night, with Victor Mesa Jr.'s two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning providing the decisive blow.
The Rays advanced to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020, while New York's season ended without a World Series appearance meaning the Yankees have now gone 17 consecutive seasons without winning the championship.
A controversial fan-interference decision briefly gave the Yankees hope as Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a two-run homer in the sixth, but video review determined the ball would not have cleared the wall.
Volpe was awarded an RBI double, and George Lombard Jr. scored from first before Griffin Jax struck out Spencer Jones to end the threat before Ryan Vilade also homered for Tampa Bay, after Jonathan Aranda opened the scoring with an RBI single.
Ben Rice tied the game in the third, and Jones later doubled home Volpe as the Rays' pitching staff then held on, with Bryan Baker recording his third save of the series for the Floridians.
Judge watched the elimination from the sidelines after playing just seven games following May 31 because of his rib and calf injuries and the three-time American League MVP admitted the experience had been painful.
"It definitely hurts," Judge said. "You want to be out there. All the rehab, all the work, arriving early, staying late anytime you're banged up so you can get back out there as soon as you can. It definitely hurts not to get the chance to be out there and battle."