The New York Yankees will visit the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. In 2023, Judge tore a ligament in his big toe playing right field at Dodger Stadium when he crashed into a wall.
In 2023, Judge played mostly right field, but in early June, he crashed into a wall in right field. The injury cost him 42 games that year, and in 2024, Judge appeared mostly in center field. Judge was playing in center field when the Yankees visited the Dodgers last season, so there was no concern about him crashing into the right field wall again. However, now that he is playing right field again, the Yankees may be having flashbacks.
During an appearance on “Talkin’ Yanks,” manager Aaron Boone confirmed that the team will not take Judge out of right field over concerns about a repeat of his 2023 injury.
“No, he’s going to play right field,” Boone said definitively when asked if the team would keep Judge away from the right field wall.
Judge is having a phenomenal season offensively, but is quietly playing very well in right field. He has a positive outs above average, according to Baseball Savant. Last season he played center field because the Yankees had to put Juan Soto in right field.
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Judge and the Yankees will visit the Dodgers for the first time since the World Series. The Dodgers’ big three of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts are all playing well, but their rotation is decimated by injuries. Meanwhile, the Yankees are not the same team they were last season. Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger have brought some more production to the Yankees’ offense. Max Fried is pitching great for the Yankees as well.
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