New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto recently missed a handful of games with a forearm injury, which popped up during a rain delay during New York's doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins last Thursday.

On the latest edition of ‘Talkin' Yanks,' Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained why Alex Verdugo thought he wasn't telling him the truth when the injury occurred:

Said Boone, “[Soto] was fine hitting, throwing, and everything. So then you bring in the rain delay, and you kind of get shut down for a minute. So it's like, ‘I've got to ramp this thing back up again.'

“Dr. Ahmad was there as well, so they looked at it, and I think they all just kind of decided with Juan, like, ‘all right, let's pull you tonight and, let's just…for peace of mind, get some imaging on this for tomorrow, and we'll see where we're at.'

“So the biggest thing that night is I'm going to tell [Verdugo] ‘Hey, you're in the game.' I had given him the night [off], and I'm telling him ‘Hey, you're in the game,' and he thinks I'm messing with him. And I'm trying to convince him, I'm like, ‘Dude, you are in this game.' He's like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.'”

Fortunately for the Yankees, Soto was able to return to the lineup on Monday, acting as the team's DH against the Kansas City Royals.

Verdugo is preparing for what he said will be a “personal” series as he will face the rival Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park for the first time as a member of the Yankees this Friday. Despite rumors to the contrary, Verdugo said there is no bad blood between him and Boston manager Alex Cora.

Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo part of Yankees' dominant outfield

New York Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo (24) and center fielder Aaron Judge (99) and right fielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates after the game against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium.
© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

So far in his first season with the Yankees, Verdugo has been quite solid. Through 266 plate appearances, he has a slash line of .265/.320/.433, 63 hits, 35 RBIs and eight home runs.

Those are solid numbers, but in conjunction with Soto and centerfielder Aaron Judge, the trio make up what is possibly the best outfield trio in baseball.

Soto is hitting .318 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs with an OPS of 1.024.

Judge, after a slow start to the season, has been hitting the stuffing out of the baseball for the Yankees after a May output that saw him win American League Player of the Month. So far in 2024, the Yankees slugger is batting .305 with 24 home runs, 59 RBIs, and an incredible 1.139 OPS.

Behind their star outfield, the Yankees are an American League-best 47-21 on the season. They lead the second-place Baltimore Orioles by 2.5 games in the AL East.