Judge Aaron of Yankees travels to the injured list but avoids serious elbow damage | New York Yankees

Yankees Captain Judge Aaron, his teammates and New York fan base exhaled Saturday when two times the AL MVP learned that his right elbow had flexor pressure but no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, which could lead to long-term layoffs.

The judge was sent out for an MRI on Saturday and missed his second game of the season, a 9-4 loss to Philadelphia. He has a platelet-rich plasma injection and will be on the injured list, but hopes to return to the action within 10 days to two weeks, initially being the designated hitter.

“You never want to get into the tube. It’s never fun. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” the judge said. “That’s why I’m going to put out a lot of these imaging and stuff like that because if I don’t happen to anything, it won’t hurt you.”

The judge led the major leagues with a batting average of 0.342 and an OPS of 1.160. He offered a New York team 37 home runs and 85 RBIs, opening seven AL East leads by late May, but started Game 1 of Toronto on Saturday’s highest 5 1/2 games.

“All in all, we got good news today,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “I think we’re all worried about the worst.”

Boone knew how hard the judge was, and he was always worried. The judge told Boone to throw the difficulties in a 12-5 loss to Philadelphia on Friday.

“I can’t throw more than 60 feet,” the judge said. “We’re going to compete with a Phillies who can hit the ball in the park. I just don’t want to put our pitchers in danger, just can’t play their games.”

Boone received scans before Saturday’s game began, when team officials conducted more evaluations. The judge fought in Illinois because the pain affected his throw but failed.

“With this pressure, if you go out and play it, you put UCL in danger, so we have to get it back,” Boone said.

Boone said it was too early to determine whether the highly respected prospect Spencer Jones would bring it up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The judge may not throw away 10 to 14 days, and then it will take several days to build back arm strength before returning to the outfield.

“I really don’t want to go to any IL or anything like that,” the judge said. “I was like, ‘If I could hit, let me hit.'” he said. “I think once this 10th day starts, I will start.”

The team’s main DH, Giancarlo Stanton, will begin working on the field next week to help fill the judge.

“It’s by no means a relief to know that he’s going to stand out, but I think you can say the best case.”

The judge said he first felt pain in the sixth inning of the game in Toronto Tuesday, when George Springer singled to the right in the sixth inning of Jonathan Loáisiga. The judge’s strong shot attempted to stop the kidnapping, but Davis Schneider beat the tag of receiver Austin Wells.

Later in the inning, the judge cringed after grabbing Alejandro Kirk’s seventh inning flight at the corner of the right field and threw it to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr, but Dante Bichette marked the tag and went from second to third. See the judge through the webcam with the right hand tightly held by the YEN webcam.

“He was almost their hardship, even showing any vulnerability, pain, etc.” Boone said. “I know we might have a problem. So any time you’re worried about the worst, but that’s why you’re waiting for the reaction. … We got the MRI and were clearly diagnosed.”