Yankees avoid Juan Soto disaster with injury update: ‘Feels like a relief
And breathe.
Juan Soto and the Yankees avoided the worst.
Greatness will resume shortly.
After the superstar outfielder underwent an MRI exam Friday for left forearm soreness, he’s expected to be OK. The initial diagnosis is just inflammation, not anything more worrisome.
He didn’t play in the Yankees’ series-opening 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Dodgers on Friday night in The Bronx, and wasn’t available to pinch-hit, but Soto is considered day-to-day and is expected to avoid the injured list.
Aaron Judge moved over to right field, with Trent Grisham starting in center.
Soto will take medication, but did not and is not set to receive a cortisone shot.
He had imaging done on his elbow, which came back clean, in addition to his forearm.
“[The MRI result] was what I was looking for,” Soto said after Friday’s game. “Just tried to see what was really going on in my elbow. … Thank God it came out that way. It feels like a relief.”
Soto exited with the injury Thursday night, not returning to the game after a 56-minute rain delay during the Yankees’ 8-5 win over the Twins on Thursday night at the Stadium.
Soto said Thursday that he’s felt the discomfort for “like a week-and-a-half or two.”
Manager Aaron Boone on Friday could not pinpoint when Soto’s discomfort started or what caused it, though he acknowledged the soreness largely emerged after games and activity, not during.
He pointed to Thursday’s rain delay as to why they finally felt a need to get it checked out, with Soto becoming sore during the break.
“He’s a pretty cool customer, as you’ve seen,” Boone said. “I’m sure there was some [anxiety from Soto]. I know for him in his mind, he wanted to know what was going on there because that soreness was just lingering with him each and every day. I’m sure [the test results] gave him some peace of mind.”
Soto is in the midst of a brilliant first season with the Yankees, who own an American League-best 45-20 record.
He is batting .318/.424/.603 with a 1.027 OPS, 17 home runs and 53 RBIs.
Soto, 25, has largely been incredibly durable throughout his career.
He played all 162 games for the Padres last year, and played at least 151 games in four of five seasons when MLB had a full 162-game schedule (he played 47 of 60 games in the condensed 2020 season due to COVID-19).
The other year was his rookie season, when he played 116 games.
But for the first time in pinstripes, Soto delivered cause for concern.
That scare quickly turned into a sigh of relief, however, and the Soto Show should be back to regularly scheduled programming soon.
“It’s tough to see the game from the bench,” Soto said. “I don’t like that. I try my best to be out there and try to help the team.”
