Masahiro Tanaka already back at Yankee Stadium after line drive scare

A day after being struck in the head by a line drive, Masahiro Tanaka is already back at the ballpark.

Though he didn’t take part in team workouts, Tanaka was back at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, just 24 hours after taking a Giancarlo Stanton line drive to the head. Tanaka was evaluated and released from the hospital Saturday, and while he is in the concussion protocol, did not appear to suffer any significant damage at first glance.

Yankees teammate Brett Gardner said Tanaka looked like his usual self making his way around the stadium.

Brett Gardner said that Masahiro Tanaka was "walking around acting like his normal self" at Yankee Stadium today. "I'm hoping that he's in the clear."

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) July 5, 2020

This is great news, and hopefully means Tanaka will avoid any serious problems as a result of the scary incident. As it’s a possible head injury, the Yankees are not putting any timetable on Tanaka’s readiness to actually play, but perhaps we could see him fairly early in the restarted season.

Tanaka posted an 11-9 record last season with a 4.45 ERA.