Aaron Judge’s rib injury reshapes the Yankees’ June plans, while Tarik Skubal’s rehab gives the Tigers a target date

The Yankees’ grip on June just got harder to maintain, with New York officially putting Aaron Judge on the injured list due to a stress fracture in the first rib on his right side. The club announced the diagnosis on June 5 and the move was retroactive to June 2, meaning Judge begins a window of rest and limited activity with the hope that healing is sufficient for baseball activities later. The Yankees also said they will reimage the injury in approximately four to six weeks to determine the next steps, and their broader expectation is that Judge could return at some point this season. For a lineup that has depended on Judge’s power and presence in the middle of games, this turns an early-summer stretch into a test of depth and adjustment.

The Yankees’ response was immediate and practical. reported that Judge was placed on the 10-day injured list on June 5 and that New York recalled outfielder Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Before the IL move, the Yankees had already started to experiment with alternatives in right field, using Jose Caballero and Max Schuemann during the recent Cleveland series in Judge’s absence. ’s injury updates further indicated that Judge’s IL date was June 5 (retroactive to June 2) and that, at least at this stage, his expected return timing is “possibly August,” contingent on the reimaging and response to rest. The swing-and-miss risk of replacing a slugger with a developing bat is obvious, but the more subtle challenge is how the lineup’s run-production pattern changes when the captain is removed.

Judge’s timetable matters beyond any single game. The Yankees are forced to plan around fewer at-bats for their best offensive threat, and they must do it with an offseason-style decision tree in-season: how to distribute playing time in right field, whether to lean on internal versatility, and how to keep the rest of the lineup from pressing when RBI chances become scarcer. ’s reporting also noted that Judge had undergone extensive testing after the initial discomfort and that edema complicated evaluation early on, which helps explain why the team has leaned on imaging rather than a simple short absence. The immediate next milestone is the four-to-six-week reimaging window, which will shape whether “possibly August” stays in play or becomes more conservative.

In Detroit, the injury story points in the opposite direction, at least in the near term. The Tigers are preparing to welcome Tarik Skubal back to live competition after elbow surgery that included the removal of a loose body from his left elbow. reported on June 5 that Skubal’s next team would be the West Michigan Whitecaps for a rehab start with High-A, scheduled for Sunday against Dayton. The Tigers viewed this as a potential final step in his rehab before a return to the big-league rotation, with manager A.J. Hinch describing an ideal scenario of a one-start stint if everything goes smoothly.

The return timeline is now being expressed in baseball terms. Skubal is expected to be stretched out to around 75 pitches for the rehab appearance, after throwing 64 pitches during his last simulated game. also noted that, if the rehab start goes well, Skubal could be in line to rejoin Detroit’s rotation next weekend in Cleveland for an AL Central matchup that carries playoff implications for the franchise’s season arc. Even as the Tigers work through the final stages, the injury can also carry market weight: ’s report connected Skubal’s possible return cadence to the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, underlining how quickly a pitching ace can become a lever for both roster building and contention.

Together, the Judge and Skubal updates show how quickly title-level teams can be forced into recalculation. For the Yankees, the question is how to sustain offense and lineup flexibility while waiting on imaging for a rib stress fracture. For the Tigers, the question is whether a controlled rehab start confirms that the elbow is ready for major-league stress again, or whether the rehab needs another step. Over the next two phases, fans should watch for the Yankees’ reimaging timeline and for Skubal’s Sunday pitch-count execution and follow-up decision, because those two checkpoints will largely determine how each team looks in late June and beyond.