BOSTON — Aaron Judge spent Thursday’s off day getting another platelet-rich plasma injection into his sprained right big toe.
The Yankees captain was still experiencing some lingering soreness in the toe more than a week after the first PRP injection, so he received another one on Thursday, aimed at a different ligament, which the team is hoping can help speed up his recovery process.
“There’s two ligaments, so they hit the other ligament, which was still giving him some of the soreness,” Boone said Friday before the Yankees opened a series at Fenway Park. “So he had that [Thursday] and is doing a lot better today.
“So nothing in the way of baseball stuff the next 48 hours, but he’s doing better.”
Judge has been out since June 4 and still has no definite timetable for his return because he has not been able to even begin any baseball activities yet.
He received the first PRP injection on June 6 and the Yankees have said there would not be any clarity on his timeline until the swelling dissipated, though it’s clear it is going to be some time.
Asked if surgery could be on the table if the soreness in Judge’s toe does not subside, Boone said, “I don’t know. I don’t think so. That’s over my head.”
“My understanding is these ligaments should heal over time,” Boone added. “Any time you strain or tear the ligaments, it takes time to heal that obviously. The PRPs hopefully speed that process up. Hopefully he’s continuing to move in the right direction.
“I feel like he was, but that other part of the joint or on the toe that was still giving him some problems after the first PRP — so to get in and hit the other part of it hopefully is something that speeds this up a little bit.”
At the plate, Judge’s right big toe is vital to generating force and power for his 6-foot-7, 282-pound frame, so the Yankees are proceeding cautiously with his rehab.
Boone was asked whether Judge had a chance to be back before the All-Star break, which begins on July 10.
“I think there’s a shot for that, yeah,” he said. “That said, I don’t know. He could be back in a week, he could be back before – I don’t know. We gotta get to a point where we’re starting to move the ball from a physical activity and baseball standpoint.
“Hopefully this latest PRP is part of speeding that process up, but we’ll see.”