close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

Juan Soto Cut From Yankees Lineup Over Injury Fears
news

Juan Soto Cut From Yankees Lineup Over Injury Fears

OAKLAND, Calif. — Despite his many talents, Juan Soto doesn’t have an off switch.

But that would cost him at least one game, although the Yankees still weren’t sure it would be just one game.

A day after sliding into the right-field wall in foul territory at T-Mobile Park and making an excellent catch — with his left knee taking the brunt of the impact, hitting the unprotected concrete base of the wall — Soto was scratched from the Yankees’ lineup at the last minute Friday as they began a series against the A’s at the Coliseum.

X-rays on Soto’s knee came back negative, but he was still experiencing swelling and pain Friday. After pregame treatments and exercises, the Yankees decided to err on the side of caution and bench him at least the night before.

Juan Soto collides with the wall during the Yankees’ game against the Mariners on September 19, 2024. AP

“I think it’s best to keep him out tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said.

With just one week left in the regular season as they look to take control of the AL East and head into October with a positive outlook, the Yankees can’t afford to be without Soto for long.

“Not overly (concerned about the long term),” Boone said. “Even talking to (director of sports medicine and rehabilitation Mike Schuk), it’s not something he’s worried about long term here. Just a day-to-day thing. Hopefully he’s even available tonight in some capacity.”

In retrospect, the Yankees would have rather dropped the ball for a foul, which left them trailing 3-2 to the Mariners in the seventh inning, than have Soto put his body in danger, especially at this point in the season.

But that’s easier said than done for Soto, who also has a lot at stake with less than two months until he becomes a free agent.

“I feel like it’s just the adrenaline of the game,” Soto said Thursday. “We try to keep the game on the line there and go out there and do the best we can. You talked about free agency, this and that — when I get on those lines, I forget about everything. I literally just focus on the game. We’re trying to win the game to help the team do the best it can.”

Aaron Judge is keeping an eye on Juan Soto during the injury period. Getty Images

Boone also said Soto may have saved himself from something worse by sliding into the wall.

“More than you know, guys know how to protect themselves and play smart in certain situations,” Boone said. “I actually think he protected himself a little bit by going the way he did. Obviously he hurt it and he’s out today, but the way he went about it, he avoided a bad situation.”

It looked an awful lot like Aaron Judge’s catch at Dodger Stadium last June, when he broke his toe on the unpadded bottom of the wall.

The judge insisted he was fine that night, but he was suspended from playing the next day. Further tests revealed a torn ligament in his toe.

Soto admitted Thursday that he was “really worried” about his knee when the action occurred, but the pain slowly began to subside in the final two innings of the game.

Still, there was some concern when the star right fielder said he felt the ball running and then tried to swing (his spot in the batting order was no longer available for an at-bat).

If Soto were to miss more than a few days, it would be devastating for the Yankees, who clinched a playoff spot on Wednesday.

Soto entered Friday as the third most valuable player in the American League (according to FanGraphs’ WAR), batting .286 with an OPS of .993 and a personal-best 40 home runs.

It’s not the first time this season that the Yankees have had concerns about Soto’s physical condition, though he remains strong overall.

In early June, he suffered from an inflammation in his left forearm, which forced him to miss three games against the Dodgers.

Later in June, during a series in Toronto, Soto was added to the lineup late after hitting his right hand on the ground the night before while sliding into home plate. X-rays were negative and again the result was only inflammation, although he was added to the lineup late the next day.

Juan Soto and the Yankees prepare for the playoffs. Getty Images

In the days and weeks that followed, Soto continued to experience pain in his hand, especially when he missed a ball, but it eventually went away.

And then there was the game earlier this month, when he mishit a ball with his right foot and fell to the ground in pain, but still stayed in the game and hit a home run in the same at-bat.

The result of all the scares was that Soto had started 149 of the Yankees’ 153 games through Friday, the team’s third-highest starting position, behind Judge (151) and Anthony Volpe (150).