It’s been 10 days since Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton, and the great news is that Tanaka is already back with the team.
And, even better, he has jokes.
Tanaka sustained a concussion on July 4 after taking a direct hit from Stanton’s line drive. In recent days, Tanaka has stopped experiencing concussion symptoms and has taken a few bullpen sessions on flat ground. In all, he was extremely fortunate to avoid serious injury, and Tanaka knows that.
After all, he’s watched the video of himself taking a line drive to the head … “many times.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Tanaka laughed when he told reporters that he’s repeatedly watched the video of the incident.
He’s so, so lucky.
Sure, some players might want to avoid re-living a scary injury over and over again. But Tanaka gets the reassurance that he can take a baseball to the head like a champ.
That’s good enough for him.
