Masahiro Tanaka unsure he'll be ready for opening week due to current injury-recovery timeline
NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka is being cautious. The Yankees right hander said he would like to be ready for the opening week of the coronavirus-shortened MLB regular season. After taking a Giancarlo Stanton line drive off the top right-side of his head and suffering a mild concussion on July 4, it seems unlikely.
“I’m not sure. … I want to be optimistic and say yes. But obviously, the injuries, the injury is at the head,” Tanaka said Tuesday through interpreter Shingo Horie. “So, I think it’s something that I need to be cautious about and, kind of, take it careful, more so than other injuries. So, as of now, I think it’s just a step-by-step process. And that’s all I can say for now.”
This whole strange season is about being cautious, particularly for the Japanese star, who fled Florida for his home country after baseball was shut down. At the time, via social media posts, Tanaka said that he was heading to Japan out of concern for his family and the spreading virus. He also indicated that there may have been another issue regarding his family’s safety in the US during the pandemic.
Tanaka declined to elaborate on what some translations of his social media posts called “an incident,” that created that fear for his safety.
“I don’t think I want to necessarily go into details about that. At this point. I think I said what I wanted to say through some social media at that time. It was more of like I said earlier: Considering what’s best, always best for the family,” Tanaka said. “Obviously, there were some incidents, but someone had to make the decision of what we were going to do. And just considering everything, I thought that going back to Japan would make the most sense for our family. So that was the decision behind that.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic, which health experts believe originated in Wuhan, China, has hit our shores, a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes have been documented by law enforcement and activist organizations. In New York City alone, the NYPD has recorded 16 anti-Asian hate crimes which they connect to the pandemic. Asian Americans in New York have been kicked, pushed, assaulted and accosted on subways in emotional confrontations about COVID-19.
The coronavirus pandemic has continued to ravage the U.S. On Tuesday 3.4 million cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed with over 138,000 Americans killed.
Japan, on the other hand, had a remarkably low death rate from the virus. The island nation was able to lift its COVID-19 national emergency restrictions back in May.
So it was only after hard thought that Tanaka returned to New York to play in this season, which could be his last with the Yankees.
“I did think it through. It wasn’t like an instant, easy decision,” Tanaka said. “But I’ve decided to come back here and play. And now that I’ve made that decision, you know, I’m going to give it my best and give my hundred percent.”
Tanaka was the first pitcher to take the mound for live batting practice when the spring training reboot started. The third batter he faced was Stanton, who hit a 112-mph line drive just above Tanaka’s right temple.
“It’s a very unfortunate event, but I feel like I got very fortunate. I feel very lucky. Because it could have been something that’s much worse,” Tanaka said. “Right now I have no symptoms at all. I’m able to get back, you know, in all the training menus and all that. So, yeah, I think I feel very fortunate in a very unfortunate event.”
Tanaka was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but said he has had no symptoms since being released from the hospital. He has been throwing on flat ground and doing workouts without issue and the next hurdle would be for him to throw a bullpen off the mound. Both Aaron Boone and Tanaka were very vague about when that might happen.
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