Tanaka waits out storm playing catch in right field
NEW YORK — One week after Masahiro Tanaka was concussed by a comebacker, the Yankee right-hander weathered the rain to stay sharp for the season.
Tanaka despite being caught in between rain showers lingering from Tropical Storm Fay, which reached New York on Friday, managed to get some throwing in.
Tanaka was hit in the head last week by a ball off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton. The team sent him to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion, immediately triggering his placement on the team’s seven-day concussion list per league rules.
Manager Aaron Boone said Tanaka was still under the protocol, but that he’s been able to play catch “a couple of times” and has handled the team’s battery of tests well, which include raising his heart rate with an elliptical machine to track his response.
“Anytime we’re talking about a concussion, we’re making sure we’re moving slowly and smartly,” said Boone. He doesn’t have a firm date for Tanaka to resume activities, but said: “He is at least responding how we hoped.”
As the forecast predicted, the scattered thunderstorms raged during the early part of the afternoon, forcing Tanaka and other Yankees in and out of the dugout trying to make the most of their limited relaunch time before the season restart.
Aaron Hicks is confident that PlayStation can keep his team on the straight and narrow so they don’t stray too far from their homes and MLB’s COVID-19 protocols.
“All our team does is play video games,” said Hicks, the team’s full-time center fielder since 2017. “I’m not too worried about my team and you know, going out and getting wild, cuz they like their video games.”
There’s good reason to think the Yankees are gaming enough online to ensure they have the best possible chance at playing in real life.
Back in March, The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler reported on the team’s highly involved and ultra-competitive Madden NFL league. Yankees fireballer Tommy Kahnle, the commissioner of their gaming battles, was also a competitor in MLB The Show Player’s League, battling other baseball stars around the league with their polygonal avatars from a safe distance over the PlayStation Network.
Could Netflix help the cause too? Hicks said he’ll be “binge-watching” heavily when he’s not at the ballpark. “It’s kind of what I would assume… that’s definitely what I’m going to be doing. So I just start from there.”
Aaron Judge was a late scratch from the Yankees’ lineup for Saturday night’s intrasquad game at the Stadium. Judge, who has an extensive injury history, was held out with a stiff neck. He was recovering from a fractured rib before the conronavirus shutown and would not have been ready for Opening Day had it gone on as scheduled in late March.
Judge appeared to be on pace to be in the lineup when they face the Nationals in Washington on the new Opening Day, July 23.