Aaron Judge is dealing with an injured rib, and the latest news has New York Yankees fans very worried. Judge was held out of the lineup against the Cleveland Guardians. The team said he has a “bone bruise” in his upper right rib. But on Thursday, the team ordered a CT scan and more imaging tests to see exactly how bad the injury is.

It is now said that Aaron Judge will undergo more imaging to know more about the injury. “He’s going back for some more imaging,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “They just want to get some more specific spots, and so we’ll have more on that later.”

But the major concern came when Jesse Morse, M.D., said, “Hopefully some clarity soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this required an IL stint.”

The trouble started when Judge felt soreness in his right shoulder coming from his ribs. The team kept him out of the starting lineup for three straight games against the Guardians. At first, the team thought it was just a bruise that made swinging painful for him.

But even with that, he did play the full series against the Athletics.

But additional imaging means that the Yankees staff has some unanswered questions about the injury and the extent of it. Boone says that this imaging is for specific regions of his chest, and this will give them a clear timeline as to when they can expect the slugger back on the team.

“We just want clarity on what we’re exactly dealing with,” Boone said. “Then we can set the course of action and kind of have an idea what the timeline is going to be.”

But for former players, Aaron Judge not being in the lineup is a major concern, because we rarely see Judge pull out because of an injury that isn’t very serious.

“I’m just wondering what this is. I mean, bone bruise in the rib cage, and it’s affecting— is it like up into the armpit? Like, where is this bone?” Pierzynski said on YouTube while discussing the injury.

His co-host, former Yankees catcher Erik Kratz, agreed. “He’s played through a lot of things, and for him to be able to be out on the field, just like he came back from the elbow injury last year… for him to ask off, it concerns me because it’s so odd.”

If the new tests only show a mild bruise, Judge might just need a week or two of rest. But if doctors find a bigger issue, he could miss several weeks or even months. But this isn’t something that the Yankees have not gone through, because something very similar happened in 2025.

During the 2025 season and in the month of June, the Yankees started to slip a little, and everything went wrong in June and July. From mid-June to mid-July, the Yankees went 25-27. And at the same time, Judge suffered a flexor strain in his right elbow. That kept him out of the lineup, and the team placed Judge on the 10-day IL.

Without Judge, the team could not score. Players like Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells went through terrible hitting slumps. It showed just how much the Yankees relied on Judge to win games. And once the Yankees started to skip here, they could never really recover.

Although they made it to the postseason and beat the Red Sox in the Wild Card, the team never looked like they were playing to their full strength, and that is what the ALDS showed us. They got outscored 37-16 by the Jays and got knocked out.

Should the Yankees’ fans really worry about Aaron Judge missing time?

An IL stint for Aaron Judge now looks inevitable. Yet, considering the Yankees’ offensive success this season, does the team really need to worry?

Aaron Judge’s injury has caused some concern among the Yankees, but there is no panic among the fans. The Yankees have not placed Judge on the IL yet, but he has missed multiple games now. Manager Aaron Boone said the injury, a bone bruise near Judge’s right rib cage, has affected his shoulder. History shows the Yankees are a completely different team without their captain.

Since 2017, the Yankees have posted a .596 winning percentage when Judge is in the lineup. Without him, that number drops to .517. The Yankees went 20-24 during Judge’s 44-game absence in 2023. They also lost 6 of the 10 games he missed with an elbow injury in 2025. Those numbers explain why fans are a little worried, but this season, things are a bit different.

And this season feels different because of what Ben Rice has become. Rice, who is having an amazing breakout season, was named the American League Player of the Week on June 1. He hit .414 with an on-base percentage of .485 and 11 RBIs during that week.

Rice is batting with an average of .304 with an OPS of 1.042, so basically every at-bat he takes is making an impact for the Yankees. And without Aaron Judge, that will be important for the Yankees. He ended the month of May with a 4 RBI game against the Athletics, where the Yankees scored 13 runs in an inning.

But even with Rice producing at an All-Star level, replacing the production of Judge will require other players to step up. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, and Trent Grisham will all need to pull their socks up and get ready to have a positive impact.

Grisham has just four hits in the last five games, and this season hasn’t gone as well as he had hoped. The $22 million player is hitting just .206 with seven homers in the season. But what is worrying is the fact that his OPS has now dipped below .700, and for a supposed “All-Star” player, that is not a good look.

And it’s the same with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells. The two games that the team has played against the Guardians without Judge haven’t gone well. During the 5-4 loss, the Yankees went just 1-7 with runners in scoring position. And the team can’t afford to do that, especially without the production of Aaron Judge.

Rice has given the Yankees a strong foundation, but the question is, will the rest of the team be able to keep the team on track of the team until Aaron Judge comes back?