Under The Knife 7/28/25
Judge Not
There’s a lot happening and with the trade deadline coming up, I’ll keep a little powder dry and save a bit of typing. I’ll be on Foul Territory this afternoon if you’d like to tune in, so right into it:
AARON JUDGE, OF NYY (strained forearm)
“It could have been worse.” That’s never really what you want to hear and for Aaron Judge, it’s not actually the case. Yes, his UCL is fine (“intact” is the precise word used, which doesn’t mean pristine) but the flexor strain is likely to cost him more time than the UCL. Even with a UCL sprain or rupture, Judge could play, as I pointed out in Saturday’s Flash.
Where a UCL isn’t involved in the swing, the flexor really is. A flexor strain changes everything for a power hitter like Judge. These are the muscles that let a hitter squeeze the bat, hold it steady, and then drive it through the zone with that last flash of whip. Take them away and the swing loses its anchor. Grip strength fades first. Even a mild strain makes every ball off the end or in on the hands feel like a hammer. That pain leads to hesitation and hesitation turns a violent move into a guided one.
The whip goes next. Without the flexors snapping the wrists, the barrel drags. Instead of a fast, clean turn, the bat leaks through the zone, late and slow. Velocity suddenly gets by that swing rather than going on 400 foot rides. The results are predictable: jam shots, opposite-field floaters, a hitter that looks like he’s just trying to survive. Even when the forearm starts to heal, the feeling can linger. Power comes from trusting your hands to get the bat where you want it.. Until the hitter can grip without thinking and snap through contact without bracing for pain, the home run swing stays locked away. For a slugger, that’s a hard road back.
That does mean that the 10-day IL might be more and that we might see lingering effects for a while even once he is. Maybe Judge heals quickly and cleanly and gets back to doing the historic things he does, but maybe not. One little strain might be the difference between October and not.
For those of you that asked about why I called Judge’s swing “quirky and controversial”, I’m not sending you down that rabbit hole. It’s one of those “if you don’t know, you don’t want to know” things.
More info on Marcelo Mayer and Boston, two deals forced by injuries, and a bunch more things I think are worth five bucks to read over the course of a month. But that’s just my opinion.