Yankees appear to have escaped worst-case scenario with Juan Soto's knee injury

OAKLAND, Calif. — An exposed area of concrete in a big-league ballpark helped derail the Yankees in 2023.

That occurred on June 3 when rightfielder Aaron Judge, chasing a fly ball at Dodger Stadium, tore a  ligament in his right big toe when he banged the toe on a slab of concrete at the base of the wall as he barreled through the bullpen fence.  The Yankees were 35-25 after winning on June 3, but by the time he returned on July 28, they were 54-48 en route to an 82-80 season.

For a few anxious moments in the Yankees’ universe Thursday afternoon in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, it appeared history was repeating itself. Juan Soto, pursuing a tailing foul ball down the rightfield line hit by the Mariners' Jorge Polanco, slid left knee-first in making the catch, with the knee stopped dead in its tracks by the concrete base of the wall.

And even though Soto, who had X-rays of the knee Friday afternoon that came back negative, was scratched from Friday night's lineup  as the Yankees started a three-game series against the A’s, early indications are the Yankees avoided anything approaching a worst-case scenario with their All-Star rightfielder.

“Just the soreness and a little swelling that he’s dealing with today,” Aaron Boone said before Friday night’s game of the reasons for scratching Soto. “So we’re going to be cautious here. Pulled him out [of the lineup], and we’ll see if he’s available at any point during the game . . . In talking to Shucky [trainer Mike Shuck], it’s not something he’s concerned with long-term. Just a day-to-day thing, and hopefully he’s even available tonight in some capacity.”

It was at least mildly surprising to see Soto in Friday’s initial lineup based on how hard he went into the wall Thursday.

“Your heart definitely skips a couple beats, and I’m sure all the Yankees fans across the world were feeling the same,” said Clarke Schmidt, who took the loss in the Mariners' 3-2 victory.

After undergoing nearly an hour of treatment after the game, Soto walked through the visitor’s clubhouse in Seattle with a noticeable limp, a patch of skin on his left kneecap scraped off by the concrete.

He acknowledged being “really worried” in the seconds after the impact that he had seriously hurt himself.

“I was straight into the concrete,” Soto said. “Just [felt] really a lot of pain in my kneecap. After time it started going down and felt better. Definitely it was a little scary right there.”

Soto, slated to hit the free-agent market after the season — he is expected to land a contract between $500 million and $600 million, or even more — said his future was not a consideration while making the play. And never is.

“Free agency and this and that, when I go [between] those lines, I forget about everything,” said Soto, who entered Friday hitting .286 with 40 homers, 103 RBIs and a .993 OPS in 149 games. “I literally just focus on the game and trying to win the game and help the team.”

 Soto, who started all 162 games last season with the Padres, prides himself on posting every day.

He missed three games earlier this season with left forearm inflammation and missed  the June 29 game in Toronto after suffering a bruised right hand on a play at the plate the night before. Soto, initially kept out of the lineup June 30, talked his way into it about 15 minutes before first pitch that day and singled sharply to rightfield in his first at-bat of the game.

“You want to be in the lineup every day to help the team to win ballgames,” Soto said in the clubhouse before that June 30 game. “For me, the most important thing is to be on the field no matter what.”

Marinaccio DFA’d. The Yankees returned righthander Cody Poteet from his rehab assignment and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday. To make room on the 40-man roster, they designated righthander Ron Marinaccio for assignment. Marinacchio's last two seasons were plagued by inconsistency as he struggled to recapture the dominant form shown during his 2022 rookie season, when he posted a 2.05 ERA in 40 games. Marinaccio, 29, was a 19th-round pick of the Yankees in 2017. He had a 3.99 ERA in 49 games in 2023 and a 3.86 ERA in 16 games in the big leagues this season, often shuttling between the majors and Scranton.