Could Aaron Judge's injury cause a swing in the AL MVP race?
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman is joined by Zack Meisel of The Athletic examine the impact Aaron Judge 's shoulder injury could have not only on the New York Yankees, but on the AL MVP race. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Zach, you covered the first game of the series last night, and Aaron Judge, who's, he's really good.
You were ta- you were asking me if I'm aware, I know about Rhys Hoskins.
Well, if you like home runs, let me just get, get a load of this guy, all right?
This Aaron Judge fellow has been hitting a few of them over the years.
he's, he's hurt, at least a little bit.
He's dealing with a shoulder injury that's also s-something of a, like a rib bruise, bone bruise situation.
This is significant because he is not missing any all season.
He was in the starting lineup every game, until Tuesday.
His numbers did seem to take a serious dip over the last 10 to 15 games.
Maybe that's a coincidence.
Maybe he was fighting through something.
This is a day-to-day situation.
We don't know if he's gonna go on the IL as we're recording this on Wednesday morning.
As you probably still looked at the Yankees lineup last night, you were just like, "Well, this is still a pretty good lineup."
I'm not, we're not, we're not crying for the New York Yankees.
But I do think that Aaron Judge missing any amount of time is kind of a big deal, partially because the Yankees do still, the whole lineup still functions when he is there just looming as this terrifying presence.
And also because Aaron Judge is trying to defend his MVP crown that he has successfully done, for a while.
And while Shohei Ohtani is doing his part in the National League, this has been a very strange AL MVP season so far.
We talk about Jos Ramrez.
He's usually in the conversation.
His numbers are not necessarily up there right now.
I mean, he's up there in war because of the defense and the base running, but offensively nowhere close.
And even Aaron Judge, before his injury, was I think seventh, in WRC+ in the American League, 10th in war.
Bobby Witt Jr.'s way ahead of everybody else, but the Royals can't stop losing.
So first of all, what are your just broad Aaron Judge thoughts as someone who's covered games against him o-over the years?
And then, yeah, what do, what do you make of the state of the AL MVP race?
Well, I learned that your rib cage is connected to your shoulder.
Did you know that?
Yeah.
I guess.
Yeah, hopefully this isn't two completely separate injuries.
yeah, I mean, it, the, the lineup definitely looks drastically different without him.
and I, I actually, I, you know, the lineup, their lineup is top-heavy even with him in there.
Yeah.
but- Yeah still, it's not, you know, there aren't automatic outs.
I don't think a pitcher can take a deep breath facing that team.
But, like, they need him in there for sure.
who wouldn't?
But it's almost as if Jos Ramrez learned Aaron Judge has an injury and he's like, "Oh, that's right.
I've been pursuing an MVP award for years and years-" " and this guy's always standing in my way.
Okay, fine.
I'll turn it on now."
And he has- Mm-hmm his three doubles.
yeah, i-it's, watching him hit in that ballpark is one of the joys of the sport, in part because he could hit a pop-up to, like, shallow center field and fans will ooh and aah the, the moment he makes contact 'cause they think it's got a chance.
So, you know, you, you don't wanna see guys injured.
You wanna see players put up just crazy numbers when they can.
And so, you know, hopefully it's, it's not something too serious.
