Sources: Tigers Homepage / Sponichi / Nikkan Sports
The Hanshin Tigers roster (and mental health) took a huge blow on September 25th as the team announced that five of its players and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19. At first, just one player, right-handed pitcher Masumi Hamachi, complained of headaches, slight fever, and lethargy. Those symptoms had all disappeared by the time he was given a PCR, but upon his positive test, all players and staff on the farm were also tested but everything came back negative. You see, Hamachi had only been on the farm since September 21, and appeared in just one game. He was, however, on the top squad on the 19th while the club was on the road in Nagoya.
The Tigers allowed for players to go out for meals with each other or family members just once a month, and the 19th was that day in September. There were stipulations, though, upon their outings: (1) No more than 4 together; (2) Cannot play the same position; (3) Outing lasts no more than 2 hours; (4) Must use private rooms at dining facilities; (5) Masks must be worn and strict adherence to hand washing and gargling must also be practiced.
Hamachi allegedly dined with Kosuke Baba, Ippei Ogawa and Suguru Iwazaki. All are relief pitchers. Baba has tested positive, while Ogawa and Iwazaki’s PCRs came back negative. Nevertheless, they have been deactivated in accordance with NPB policy.
Also testing positive were Yuta Iwasada, Kento Itohara and Naomasa Yohkawa. These three dined together, along with Kosuke Fukudome, Taiga Egoshi, Seiya Kinami, Keisuke Kobayashi and one staff member (who also tested positive). All of these players have also been deactivated. Lots of position overlap, plus 8 guys was double the limit set by the team.
In spite of this sudden news, which was announced in the middle of the afternoon on Friday, the night game in Tokyo against the Swallows was still played. Hamachi was already on the farm team, but the other ten players left Tokyo and have returned to the Kansai area, where they are to isolate themselves.
The players who tested positive all retraced their steps over the previous three days (September 22-24), and aside from Yohkawa and Baba going to convenience stores once or twice, none of the four players went out for meals or anything else, other than using public transportation to get to Tokyo on the 24th.
Taking the 10 deactivated players’ places on the top roster are: Hiroki Uemoto, Fumiya Hojoh, Takahiro Kumagai, Shun Takayama, Kairi Shimada, Atsushi Nohmi, Shintaro Fujinami, Masaki Tanigawa and Yukiya Saitoh.
Hanshin headquarters chairperson Osamu Tanimoto met with the press online, and apologized for what has happened, saying that he was too naive when he set the rules allowing players to go out together.