The Yankees officially began their summer without Aaron Judge on Friday after placing the slugger on the IL on Thursday night with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side.
As Aaron Boone noted before the stress fracture announcement, there’s no making up for losing “the best hitter in the sport.”
“You’re not replacing Aaron Judge,’’ the manager said.
And with the team’s outfield depth already lacking due to Jasson Domínguez being on the IL with a sprained left shoulder, the Yankees turned to Spencer Jones to take Judge’s spot on the roster, a source told The Post, as they called the outfield prospect back up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 6-foot-7 Jones’ first stint in the majors didn’t go well, as he finished 4-for-24 with no extra-base hits, three walks and 12 strikeouts in 27 plate appearances.
Domínguez is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment Friday, but regardless of who the Yankees call upon, they will be left with a huge hole in their lineup until Judge returns — which almost certainly won’t be for at least two months.
The Yankees said Thursday that he will rest and then re-imaged in 4-6 weeks to determine how much the area has healed and determine the next steps.
Judge, the team said, “is expected to return at some point this season.”
The team’s captain played with shoulder soreness for weeks, according to Boone, before the injury worsened last weekend in Sacramento against the A’s.
That led to Judge undergoing tests Monday before an additional MRI exam Wednesday, followed by a CT scan and X-ray on Thursday before the final diagnosis.
Judge’s production had dropped significantly in the three weeks leading up to his shutdown, but he still has 17 homers and a .907 OPS.
It’s the latest in a growing list of ailments for Judge, who hit the IL last season with a flexor strain in his right elbow and missed 42 games with a torn ligament in his big right toe after running into a wall making a catch at Dodger Stadium in 2023.
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He also suffered a similar rib injury to the one he’s dealing with now in September 2019, but it wasn’t diagnosed until the following spring before the season was delayed by COVID.
The Yankees dropped two of three to Cleveland in The Bronx without Judge this past week and since 2017, the Yankees have gone 652-442 with him in the lineup compared to 137-127 when he’s out.
