And breathe.
Juan Soto and the Yankees avoided the worst. Greatness should resume shortly.
After the superstar outfielder underwent an MRI exam on Friday for left forearm soreness, he’s expected to OK. The initial diagnosis is just inflammation, not anything more worrisome.
He wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Yankees’ series-opener against the Dodgers Friday night in The Bronx, but Soto is considered day-to-day and is expected to avoid the injured list. Aaron Judge moved over to right field on Friday, with Trent Grisham starting in center.
Juan Soto exited Thursday’s game early.Robert Sabo for NY Post
“Might have been some anxious moments in there,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s game. “But probably also a little optimism, too, in that obviously he’s been playing and playing really well and has been able to play. … Excited we got good news.”
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.
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 Thursday night at the Stadium.
He was checked by the Yankees’ training staff and team physician and orthopedic surgeon Chris Ahamd during the rain delay, and they decided it was best to pull Soto from the game. Soto then underwent the imaging on Friday.
Soto said on Thursday that he’s felt the discomfort for “like a week-and-a-half or two,” though it hasn’t prevented him from playing — or slowed him down.
“It’s not any specific activity,” Soto said on Thursday. “It’s kind of funny that it doesn’t hurt me whenever I throw or hit. It’s more like soreness that I feel with any kind of move that I make with my arm. But definitely it doesn’t stop me from doing anything baseball-wise in the field.”
Boone on Friday could not pinpoint when Soto’s discomfort started or what caused it. But he pointed to Thursday’s rain delay as to why they finally felt a need to get it checked out.
“Once he gets hot and gets it going, they work on him, the hitting and the throwing in the game has been fine,” Boone said. “It’s getting to that point. And then waking up the next morning, kind of sore, different movements, kind of stiff. So the rain delay happens, it’s kind of like, ‘I got to go through that process again.’ ”
Soto has been quite durable during his career.John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
Soto is in the midst of a brilliant first season with the Yankees, who entered Friday’s game — in what could be a World Series preview — with an MLB-best 45-19 record. He’s combined with Aaron Judge to form a dominant 1-2 punch that is on a historic pace.
Soto is batting .318/.424/.603 with a 1.027 OPS, 17 home runs and 53 RBIs this year. His batting average and on-base percentage are both best in the American League, entering Friday’s games.
In the last two weeks, in which Soto said he began to feel the discomfort, he actually performed better than his season-long stats, hitting .350/.491/.800 with a 1.291 OPS, four homers and 12 RBIs in 12 games. The Yankees went 10-2 in that stretch.
He and Judge had been challenging to combine for the most bWAR between two teammates in MLB history, since the league went from 154 games to 162 in 1961.
That pursuit of history should not be paused for long.
Soto, 25, has largely been incredibly durable throughout his career. He played all 162 games for the Padres last year, and played 151-or-more games in four of five seasons of which 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.
Soto had played every game this year, as well.
But for the first time in Pinstripes, Soto delivered cause for concern. That scare quickly turned to a sigh of relief, however, and the Soto Show should be back to regularly scheduled programming soon.
“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.”
Source : nypost.com
