Anthony Rizzo was on the Yankee Stadium infield taking ground balls prior to the yankees’ doubleheader against the Red Sox on Tuesday, marking another step towards making a return from the COVID-19 IL.
Rizzo, who got off to a torrid start with the Yanks after being traded just before the deadline, fell into a 1-for-12 slide in his last three games before being placed on the COVID list. The first baseman said he began noticing symptoms after feeling fatigued after the Yankees’ win over Seattle earlier this month, just before he tested positive.
Rizzo lost his sense of taste and smell and was “knocked out” for a week dealing with symptoms of the virus. But now that he went through his cardiac work on Monday and has resumed baseball activities on Tuesday, his return could be imminent.
Rizzo said he lost his sense of smell and taste, but it’s coming back now. Other than that, he mostly felt achy and fatigued. He joked that his age might have caught up to him. Went on some walks the last few days but today’s his first day of a full workout. https://t.co/D1g9fjhyVN
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 17, 2021
“Soon,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll see if it’s tomorrow or the next day, just have to see where we’re at today as far as how he’s doing, how he responds to the uptick in workload. He’s gonna take some ground balls, probably hit in between games, I know he’s planning on standing in on some bullpens and tracking and stuff, so we’ll see where we are at the end of the day.”
Rizzo wound up hitting before game one on Tuesday, but didn’t want to give a timeline on his potential return. Since arriving to New York, he has three home runs and a .963 OPS through 40 plate appearances.
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