Yankees’ star reliever reveals he had COVID-19 in January: ‘I lost a good amount of weight’

The New York Yankees have a deep bullpen, which was further solidified with the signings of Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson. However, few relievers are as trustworthy as Zack Britton, a left-handed with the ability to get groundballs at an elite rate and still miss his fair share of bats.

He often looks superhuman on the mound, getting some of the best sluggers in the game to hit the ball in the ground, where it leads to better outcomes for the pitcher (it is a statistical fact.) Yet, as indestructible as he looks in games, he struggled mightily with a bout of COVID-19 back in the winter, specifically in January.

In fact, the Yankees’ top reliever has been held out of action during spring training, and it is because he struggled with coronavirus.

The Yankees’ bullpen stalwart had a really bad time

In fact, it was Dan Martin of the New York Post the one that initially reported the news, and the talented lefty told the writer that “it hit me pretty good.”

“I lost a good amount of weight. Physically, I’m all good now but trying to be smart,” Britton said in an email to the aforementioned paper.

The Yankees, seeing that Britton’s experience with COVID-19 was more than troublesome, decided to take things slow with the reliever and are taking their time with him, making sure he is well-recovered from the disease.

Despite the slow progress, the New York Yankees do expect Britton to be ready to go from Opening Day. So far, Britton has taken part in drills.

Another Yankees’ player that had a case of COVID-19 in the winter was Gio Urshela, who had to deal with elbow surgery on top of that. He is now back on the field and playing his customary third base.