The Yankees are accustomed to general injuries suffered during baseball games. Whether it be players hit by a pitch, straining a muscle rounding the bases, or pulling a lat swinging a bat, most of the individual ailments suffered in recent years have been during live action.
This off-season, though, the Yankees have faced resurfacing injuries from last fall and new ones during spring training. However, the team cannot manage to escape the unfortunate reality of their situation. On Saturday, during the first official team workout post-MLB shut down, Giancarlo Stanton struck Masahiro Tanaka in the head with a line drive.
Here’s another video of Giancarlo Stanton lining a ball off Masahiro Tanaka’s head: #Yankees pic.twitter.com/m5ZhPBWuuL
— Bronx Bombers News (@NewsBronx) July 4, 2020
Tanaka immediately fell to the ground in obvious pain as a loud crack was heard across the stadium, and the ball struck him. He laid on the mound for several minutes before trainers were able to help him off the field under his own power.
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Luckily, the Yankees starting pitcher was suffering minimal concussion symptoms that have since alleviated, but he will be under close watch after such a devastating blow. Stanton was in reasonable mental distress after he hit Tanaka with the comebacker, but things are looking up for the Japanese born player.
I appreciate all the support. I feel it a bit right now, but I’m all good. Going to try to get back on the mound ASAP! Thanks again for all the encouraging words!
— ?????/MASAHIRO TANAKA (@t_masahiro18) July 5, 2020
The Yankees are desperately trying to rid themselves of all this bad luck
This wasn’t the only poor news the Yankees received on Saturday, as both DJ LeMahieu, and Luis Cessa were diagnosed with COVID-19.
LeMahieu, who batted .327 with 26 homers and 102 RBIs in 2019, ranked fourth in MVP voting and earned an All-Star selection for his contributions. He was by far the Yankees’ best player and acted as their utility man across the infield. Losing him would be devastating, but we can imagine he will remain quarantined for the next few weeks until he is healthy. This also puts his teammates in jeopardy, especially if he had been spending any time around them in recent days.
The Yankees will continue to test their players and ensure none of them have contracted the virus, but luckily, the team has about a month until regular season play begins. They have an abundance of time to regain their health and security before taking the field against an official opponent.