Nobody knows exactly why Aaron Judge has a stress fracture in his upper right rib that will keep him out at least four-to-six weeks. Maybe it was due to him crashing into the right field wall at Yankee Stadium, but the most popular clip being passed around shows him hitting his back more than his shoulder or rib area on that play. You be the judge:Or maybe it was a dive to avoid a collision with a teammate on April 26, as the player himself believes.But this particular injury isn’t one where he came out of a game and subsequently went on the injured list. Both of these incidents happened over a month ago, and could have contributed to a problem that was exacerbated over time. At least, his manager seemed to say it was a longer-term issue.“He’s been kind of the last couple of weeks dealing with some shoulder soreness, just kind of more nagging,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “Then over the weekend, the last couple of games in Sacramento, I think it became a little more than just that, where I noticed with some swings and stuff. It became a little more than just nagging. I think it was affecting him.”Judge’s size and athleticism alone could lead to injuries of upkeep. Pushing your body into the red in order to run and throw faster than anyone else can lead to problems. At least, pitchers have told us as much — more than half of the hardest-throwing starters with at least 150 innings in 2024 have had a major injury or surgery since then.Since the beginning of 2025, among the hitters who have had enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, only four have swung the bat harder than Judge. Does his bat speed put him at more risk for injury? Is he like a hard-throwing pitcher who’s always a little at risk of injury due to how fast he gets the bat going?Maybe.Looking at 2,305 player-seasons since bat speed data first became available in 2023, we can see a little bit of a trend connecting bat speed to injury time lost.