Aaron Judge Injury: When Will The Yankees' Slugger Return? Trade Options, Possible Replacements

New York Yankees’ outfielder Aaron Judge sustained a chip fracture in his right wrist Thursday night after being hit by a pitch in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals. The injury will keep the team’s best player off the field for the foreseeable future.

Judge won’t require surgery, but the Yankees announced that the slugger will have to wait three weeks before he can swing a bat in a game situation. Assuming New York sends the outfielder down to the minor leagues for some rehab games, he won’t probably return until the end of August at the earliest.

The Yankees are about to enter the crucial part of their schedule, fighting to stay in the AL East race. Trailing the Boston Red Sox by 4.5 games in the division, New York has a four-game series with Boston at Fenway Park next weekend. After beating the Royals, they have a 4.5-game lead for the first AL-Wild Card spot.

As long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks, Judge should be back for the team’s final two series against Boston. The Yankees host a three-game set with the Red Sox from Sept. 18-20, and the teams will meet again at Fenway Park in the final series of the regular season.

After finishing as the runner-up for the 2017 AL MVP award as a rookie, Judge has been nearly as good in 2018. He was a starter in the All-Star Game, leading the team with a .398 on-base percentage and a .548 slugging percentage. Miguel Andujar is the only Yankee that’s played more than 65 games and is hitting higher than Judge’s .285 batting average.

There’s a possibility that the Yankees could add a bat before Tuesday’s trade deadline, though they could also make a deal sometime before the Aug. 31 waiver trade deadline. Catcher Gary Sanchez is on the disabled list and won't return for a few weeks. The team has already made trades to acquire reliever Zach Britton and starting pitcher J.A. Happ this week.

Judge’s injury will likely put Giancarlo Stanton in right field every day after playing much of the year at DH. Clint Frazier probably would’ve become the Yankees’ third outfielder if he didn’t recently go back on the disabled list with post-concussion syndrome.

Neil Walker could see an extended role if New York doesn’t make a trade. Perhaps the team will recall first baseman Tyler Austin from Triple-A. Austin has eight home runs with a .223/.280/.471 slash line in 34 MLB games this season. Minor-league infielder Tyler Wade is an option. Wade has a .543 OPS in 23 big-league games.

Judge leads the Yankees with 78 home runs, 175 RBI and a 13.5 total WAR since the start of last season.