Why Yankees moved Aaron Judge to 60-day IL, and what it means for his return timeline

Why Yankees moved Aaron Judge to 60-day IL, and what it means for his return timeline originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The New York Yankees remain without their captain Aaron Judge.

And he’s now on the 60-day Injured List, a move the Yanks made on Saturday.

It could fly under the radar for some fans, but others likely saw it and wondered what was going on.

The good news, sort of, is that it’s mostly procedural.

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Why did the Yankees move Aaron Judge to the 60-day IL?

Pretty simply, it’s because Judge isn’t going to return before his absence reaches 60 days.

Putting him on the 60-day IL removes Judge from the 40-man roster and allows for some added flexibility for the Yanks in the meantime.

The reason he wouldn’t have been put on the list initially is that once placed on the 60-day IL, a player can’t return until 60 days from the last time he took an MLB field.

Since Judge’s timeline is now going beyond that, it’s no harm to do it, and it creates that 40-man roster spot.

When is Aaron Judge coming back?

Judge still sounds a little way away.

This is what the Associated Press wrote on Saturday:

Aaron Judge will need another scan before a major ramp-up of activity while his fractured rib heals, and the New York Yankees moved their captain to the 60-day injured list Saturday.

Sidelined since May 31, Judge had a scan during the All-Star break that was reviewed by Dr. Gregory J. Pearl, chair of the department of vascular surgery at Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital in Texas.

“Obviously, healing going on, which is good, but still not able to start any baseball activities or anything,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said (Saturday).

At this point, all the Yankees can do is hope for the best.