New Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had COVID-19 in September
A.J. Hinch is coming off a September bout of COVID-19.
Hinch, hired as the Detroit Tigers' manager on Friday, revealed his diagnosis during his introductory news conference.
"It's a little bit personal, but I'll tell you that I ended up contracting the COVID virus," he said.
During Hinch's one-year suspension for his role in the 2017 Houston Astros' cheating scandal, he spent the entire summer with his family.
But Hinch was stuck in his home for two reasons: the year-long MLB ban for sign stealing and the coronavirus pandemic. Toward the end of the summer, he went on a few family trips.
"That was something I never anticipated, even though we did all the protocols," Hinch said Friday. "That was scary in the month of September. A lot of range of things over the last six or eight months."
Recently, the United States reached 9 million cases, including 190,000 in the state of Michigan. There have been more than 232,000 deaths in America, with over 7,500 in the state.
His daughters, Haley and Kaitlin, as well as his wife, Erin, were each impacted by the virus in their own way.
"There was a lot of family time," Hinch said. "My oldest daughter didn't get to graduate high school in a traditional way and hasn't got to start her freshman year (of college) in a traditional way. My youngest is still in high school. Working with the girls through that has been something my wife and I have been totally focused on."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had COVID-19 in September
