If the coronavirus took a toll on Daniel Norris, you might not know it.
Asked Tuesday about everything he went through over the past month, Norris deadpanned, "What are you talking about? I just woke up."
Jokes aside, it was a long four weeks.
"I don’t even honestly have words," Norris said. "It was just pretty weird."
The Tigers pitcher tested positive for COVID-19 on June 23. By then, the worst of his symptoms were gone. But Norris was forced to sit out Summer Camp as he awaited clearance from Major League Baseball, which requires two consecutive negative tests after a positive. He was finally cleared Monday afternoon.
"I got the call and was up until 4:30 a.m. last night. Felt like Christmas morning," he said. "Been praying a lot, just hoping and praying. It was tough. The symptoms I had weren’t that bad for me, but just the mental aspect of not being able to go to the field was kind of the hardest part. Instead I was sitting on my porch watching the live streams."
On Tuesday, Norris was back at Comerica Park. He threw his first bullpen and said he felt great. He'll throw a simulated game Thursday "and then I should be ready to rock." He sounds optimistic about reclaiming his spot in the Tigers' rotation relatively soon, if not right away. He's already stretched out to 65 pitches.
"I didn't want to miss a beat," he said.
How'd he stay so sharp during his time away?
"I don’t know if you know who Chris Hemsworth it, but he’s got a great workout app," Norris said. "It’s called Centr. That’s not a plug. I wish it was a plug, I wish we were friends. But I stayed active doing all that stuff: yoga, workouts and then the chain-link fence was my best friend until today.
"All things considered, I felt like I was able to stay in shape and pick up where I left off."
If Norris was throwing like Thor, that fence could attest. Any day he was scheduled to throw a bullpen or make a start, he brought a bag of balls to a field down the street from his house. Then he reared back and fired. The fence served as both batter and catcher.
"And I got everybody out," he quipped. "So that was good."
On top of maintaining his arm strength, Norris said the exercise helped him focus.
"You really gotta lock it in when you’re doing that," he said. "You can easily go through the motions, like, alright, I’m just throwing a ball against the fence. It helped the mindset of just zoning in. You’d see somebody walk by walking their dog and you’re like, I gotta lock it in, I gotta hit this slider down and away."
Though Norris is casual about his fight with COVID-19, it's nothing to dismiss. He suspects he picked up the virus after throwing in a scrimmage in Florida with a number of MLB players, then driving across the state to go surfing that evening.
"I drove back in my wet board shorts and then in the middle of the night I woke up and I felt a little sick, sweating a bit and achy. And I was like, I probably just did that to myself," Norris said.
For a handful of nights, Norris told the Free Press that he was dripping sweat from his fingertips. He said he woke up those mornings feeling like he was 75-80 years old. By the time he was over the hump, he gained a new level of respect for what the virus entails.
"Until you get it, you’re like, it won’t be me," he said. "I was taking precautions when was in Florida. It was crazy down there, everything was open and semi-normal. But I wasn’t partaking in all that, so I figured I was doing enough to not get it. It definitely shocks you a little bit.
"But I was never scared or anything. For me, I was like, alright, when can I come back? I was counting down the days and slowly the days turned into over a month. That was pretty tough, sitting here and waiting."
The waiting is over. The season is about to begin. Norris' initial destination isn't yet clear, but the Tigers will likely send him to Toledo to get some work in with the club's taxi squad. Assuming all goes well, there's a spot in the rotation with his name in it.
"Feel really good," Norris said. "Just excited to put the uniform back on."