Aaron Judge News: Yankees superstar absent from team's batting practice amid injury concerns

New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and his abdominal injury remains shrouded in mystery. There have been conflicting reports about the 2022 MVP's status regarding his return to the lineup. Even though manager Aaron Boone suggested Thursday that the outfielder would return to batting on Friday, this does not appear to be the case.

"Aaron Boone had said yesterday that he expected Aaron Judge to hit today. Judge is not listed in any batting practice group, per @ChrisKirschner" - @TalkinYanks

According to MLB insider Chris Kirschner, Aaron Judge has not been listed in any of the New York Yankees batting practice groups. The conflicting reports have only added to the growing concerns among Yankees fans who have already dealt with the unclear news around Gerrit Cole's elbow injury.

Although it appears that the former American League MVP will be ready for the Opening Day, today's conflicting report makes this outcome a tad murky. Judge told reporters Tuesday that he underwent an MRI and that the results of his abdominal injury came out clean.

"Aaron Judge when asked if he would be ready for Opening Day after having an MRI on his abdominal area yesterday: "I'm pretty sure. I don't want to speculate or talk about anything that hasn't come yet. The most important thing is taking some time now and be back out there soon." - @BRWalkoff

Even though there was no damage detected during his MRI, the New York Yankees will likely proceed with caution. Given the fact that the team is expected to be without ace Gerrit Cole for the first one-to-two months of the season, the team will want to make sure Judge is 100% healthy before having him appear in games.

Injuries plagued Aaron Judge last season, something the team hopes will not be the case in 2024

At this point, it is safe to say the 2023 season was a disaster for the New York Yankees. Although there were some excellent individual performances, including Gerrit Cole's first Cy Young Award win, the team failed to live up to the massive expectations placed upon them.

One of the reasons that the New York Yankees offense struggled last season was the fact that Aaron Judge was limited to only 106 games. A torn ligament in Judge's toe forced the slugger to miss 42 games, which resulted in the Yankees tumbling down the standings. This is something the team will hope to avoid again this year.