Brian Cashman explains why Aaron Judge’s recovery process has been difficult

Aaron Judge continues to heal from a broken rib and partially collapsed lung, and Brian Cashman is revealing what has made the process so challenging.

During a charity video call this week, the New York Yankees general manager spoke on the health of the All-Star slugger Judge.

“Ultimately, the broken rib that Aaron Judge suffered, it’s in an area that the blood flow to that region is more difficult,” said Cashman, per ESPN’s Marly Rivera. “Blood flow is a significant part of the healing, so that’s why the time frame is longer. When it happened, I always felt that we wouldn’t see Judge more likely until the summertime.”

Cashman did add though that he was encouraged by Judge’s overall progress.

“We’ve had some multiple reimaging that shows the healing, and we’ll continue that process that will hopefully continue to show that expected healing moving forward,” Cashman said. “Once we resume play, we’re excited and believe that he’s going to rejoin us at full capacity … He wants to play as much as anybody, and we look forward to getting him back in the lineup.”

The 28-year-old Judge suffered the injury last season trying to make a diving catch in the outfield during a game in September. He has since stated that rushing into an offseason training program set back his recovery some.

The MLB season has now been postponed for nearly two months and counting however, and that has given the former American League home runs leader some much-needed extra time to recover from a very painful-sounding injury.