Erik Boland: Cody Bellinger's hamstring strain yet another hurdle for offensively challenged Yankees
The Yankees’ Cody Bellinger returns to the dugout after striking out swinging during the 10th inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 1 of a split doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on July 22. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CHICAGO – While managing the Orioles in 2014, Buck Showalter used one of his favorite phrases in addressing some of the injury issues facing his team in the days leading up to that year’s postseason.
“People don’t care about your problems,” Showalter said. “Most of them are glad you’ve got ’em.”
The Yankees?
They’ve got ’em.
Even with Monday night’s 9-5 victory over the White Sox – a rare offensive explosion in light of the unit’s collective underwhelming performance for nearly two months now – they may well add up to be the most significant problems of the season.
Cody Bellinger, a potent lefty bat in the lineup — even as he’s been in the midst of a lengthy slump but still one of the club’s best and most versatile defenders — returned to New York on Monday for testing on the left hamstring strain he suffered in Saturday night’s victory over the Phillies, which landed him on the injured list on Sunday.
The news from that testing, though not a worst-case scenario, certainly could not be categorized as good.
Manager Aaron Boone disclosed before the win, his club’s 10th victory in their last 14 games, that Bellinger had been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain and would be out for the next 4-6 weeks at least.
“The good thing is he’s obviously able to move around right now,” Boone said of the veteran, who was seen on the field doing some light agility work before Sunday night’s loss in Philadelphia. “So we’ll continue to do that and allow this thing to heal and get him right.”
Bellinger, his batting average down to .259 at the time of the injury — which occurred while legging out a double late in Saturday’s game — has still overall been among the most important Yankees. And not just because of his 11 homers and 53 RBIs.
His defensive abilities have been a major asset since he joined the Yankees before the 2025 season (Bellinger, though mostly playing leftfield this year, has also started games in right, center and at first base).
Bellinger is yet another top Yankees hitter out for an extended stretch, as he joined Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the IL. And the return of those sluggers remains very much up in the air.
Judge, who hasn’t played since May 31 because of a broken rib, hasn’t as yet been cleared to begin baseball activities in full. The three-time AL MVP has instead been relegated to what amounts to primarily a lower-body conditioning program to protect the rib and promote healing. Judge’s most recent MRI, during the All-Star break, showed it had not healed enough to resume baseball activities.
When that will be is still a question. What isn’t a question is that Judge, once he is cleared for full-on baseball work, will need a minimum of three weeks to build back up physically for what is required to play games daily at this level.
Stanton has been on the IL since April 28 with a right calf strain, and in the words of general manager Brian Cashman before the All-Star break, suffered a “new injury” in the same calf area shortly after beginning a running program in mid-June.
“He’s continuing with his running progression,” Boone said Monday. “The strength stuff, explosive stuff he’s doing in the weight room has been very good. So we just have to get him up to a level, obviously, in the running side of things to be able to go out there.”
Stanton, who like Judge is on this current 10-game trip that started over the weekend in Philadelphia, was not seen running before Monday’s game at Rate Field (though the apocalyptical storms, which included hail, that twice hit this city Monday could have affected anything planned on-field).
Regardless, Stanton simply doesn’t appear all that close to a return.
In the meantime, the Yankees’ offense continues its steady retreat since Judge went down. And given the uncertainty of his and Stanton’s return, it’s fair to wonder if Cashman has added “bat” to his trade deadline to-do list (along with the seasonlong priorities of a lockdown bullpen arm or two and a righty-hitting catcher).
Through May 31, the Yankees were 36-23, averaging 5.2 runs per game and hitting .243 with a .770 OPS. Without Judge, they entered Monday 23-23 without Judge, averaging 4.0 runs and hitting .223 with a .679 OPS.
Those numbers don’t figure to improve dramatically with the Bellinger news.
A problem, Monday night’s encouraging result notwithstanding, still unsolved.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
