NEW YORK — The New York Yankees kept Juan Soto out of the lineup against the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, but manager Aaron Boone doesn’t expect the injury to keep the star right fielder out of the lineup for a lengthy period.
Soto left Thursday night’s game with discomfort in his left throwing forearm and Boone confirmed Friday that testing revealed inflammation but no ligament damage. “He’ll start some medicine and right now treating this as day to day,” Boone said Friday.
In his place, the Yankees put center fielder Aaron Judge back in his natural right field and fourth outfielder Trent Grisham in center field. Alex Verdugo returned to left field after getting Thursday off to rest.
Juan Soto speaks on his early exit pic.twitter.com/ws0jxTVVne
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 7, 2024
Soto left Thursday’s game in the middle of a 56-minute rain delay after the fifth inning.
A Yankees spokesman said Dr. Christopher Ahmad, the Yankees’ team physician, examined Soto during the delay and the pair determined it wasn’t worth the rest of warming up again during the delay.
Soto said he has felt soreness in his forearm for about two weeks and that he has been “just grinding through it.” He said there wasn’t a specific incident that caused the injury. Rather, he said, he woke up one day and felt pain, though he added that it hadn’t hurt him to throw or hit.
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“It’s more like soreness that I feel with any kind of move that I make with my arm,” Soto said. “It definitely doesn’t stop me from anything baseball-wise or in the field.”
When asked about Soto’s return, manager Aaron Boone said he could be available this weekend and expects him to avoid the IL.
“Yeah, I think it’s possible. Even on some level, possibly available in a situation tonight or this weekend. We’ll just see how it goes and how he responds.”
Any time Soto misses could potentially be a huge blow to the Yankees. He’s been stellar in his first season in the Bronx, leading the league in batting average (.318), on-base percentage (.424), and plate appearances (290) while playing in all 64 of the Yankees’ games. Soto also played in 162 games last year for the San Diego Padres, who traded him last offseason to the Yankees.
Behind Soto and fellow star Judge, the Yankees have posted the league’s best record at 45-19 and held a 4 1/2-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East going into Friday.
If Soto misses more time than expected, it’s possible the Yankees could turn to top prospect Jasson Domínguez, who has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. However, the 21-year-old has played just five games in the outfield during his rehab. The Yankees could also turn to prospect Everson Pereira or cycle Oswaldo Cabrera into the outfield mix.
(Top photo of Juan Soto: New York Yankees / Getty Images)