The superstar was batting second in the original starting nine, but was removed 20 minutes prior to first pitch.
After scuffling for the better part of June, the Yankees finally seemed to get something going on Friday night, waking up late and pummeling the Blue Jays, 16-5. To no one’s surprise, the excellent Juan Soto was essential to the attack, scoring the team’s first run on a combined heads-up play with Aaron Judge before launching his 20th long ball of 2024 to put New York ahead in the sixth.
It was the least newsworthy of items when the Yankees released their Saturday afternoon lineup with Soto starting and batting second, just as he has in 81 of the ballclub’s 84 games thus far (missing only the early-June Dodgers series with forearm inflammation). About 20 minutes prior to first pitch in Toronto though, he was abruptly scratched, with rookie Ben Rice moving up to Soto’s spot in the order and Oswaldo Cabrera entering to cover right field.
The first indication of what was going on with Soto came from the YES Network’s Jack Curry, who noted that Soto landed hard on his slide into home on Friday night.
The hand was indeed the culprit, as it was a terrific baseball play but a bit of a costly one. The Yankees have officially told reporters that Soto was scratched with a “right hand bruise.”
As Bryan Hoch’s tweet notes, Soto will have imaging done on his hand to make sure that nothing serious is going on. The homer he hit after that awkward slide will hopefully assuage some initial concerns, but with a guy like Soto, there is going to be concern regardless (even if the Yanks are just playing it safe). New York can ill-afford to lose one of two no-doubt All-Stars in what is otherwise a shaky batting order at the moment.