Aaron Judge disagrees with Yankees decision on injury

On Friday, the New York Yankees shut down Aaron Judge for at least the next ten days with an elbow injury. But according to Judge, he wishes that his team gave him an opportunity to continue playing through the injury.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced on Friday that Aaron Judge has a flexor strain in his right elbow and will be placed on the 10-day IL. Fortunately, Judge was able to avoid a torn UCL, which would have been the worst case scenario given that Tommy John surgery would have been the like plan to rehab a torn UCL injury.

When Judge does return to the Yankees lineup, he will return as a DH for a “period of time”, likely until there is no concerns of potentially further damaging the elbow injury.

But according to Judge, he would have liked the opportunity to serve as a DH right away and not go on the IL.

“I couldn’t throw, so that kind of sums it up,” said Judge when asked about the injury. “I was really reluctant to go on the IL or anything like that. I was like, ‘If I can hit, let me hit.’ I’ll start DH’ing when this tenth day is up.”

Judge was then asked directly whether he tried to argue to stay off the IL in conversations with the Yankees organization. And Judge explained that the discussion he had with higher-ups in the organization was “what took the longest”.

“Hell yeah,” said Judge when asked whether he wanted to play through the injury. “That’s what took the longest, more than anything.”

“I was reluctant about going on the IL… If I can hit, let me hit.”

Aaron Judge says he can’t throw, but he wanted to keep playing as the DH pic.twitter.com/9pls6knwHB

— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 26, 2025

It’s hard to blame the Yankees for looking out for the long-term best interest of their franchise superstar. At the end of the day, they are saving him from any further potentially career-altering elbow injuries.

But with that being said, it’s quite clear that Judge wants to get back in the Yankees lineup as soon as possible.