Yankees' Players Not Happy With Airing Of Tanaka Video

Several of the Yankees’ young stars are irritated that video of Masahiro Tanaka taking a line drive to the head went viral over the weekend.

The injury was recorded live by the YES Network, the YES Network, the Yankee-owned TV network. The video that circulated widely on social media Saturday evening was a YES clip recorded by a local journalist and shared by an SNY account, although neither YES nor the Yankees promoted any footage of the injury. The Mets and Wilpons own SNY.

Two of the Yankees’ best players were unhappy about the video and tweeted about it, which will be one of the primary ways we hear from MLB players this summer while in-person interviews are off-limits.

I get that everyone has a job to do but continuing to film and zoom in on someone hurt and down in the stadium doesn’t sit well with me! Doesn’t matter who it is, teammate, coach, or fan! Praying for Tanaka!

— Aaron Judge (@TheJudge44) July 4, 2020

At least four other Yankees players — reliever Jonathan Holder, outfielder Aaron Hicks, and infielders Tyler Wade and Luke Voit — shared the posts.

Judge sent his tweet before Tanaka was released from the hospital and said that he wanted “to try to get back on the mound ASAP!”) But Tanaka’s video was newsworthy, aired on live television, and was witnessed by the Yankees beat, who for all their skill could never describe the Giancarlo Stanton liner to the head as well as the video did. The video aired on MLB Network later Saturday and was also shared by the channel’s Twitter account.

Jordan Montgomery said he requested to pitch with the “L screen” after watching the incident with Masahiro Tanaka. He admitted he was a little shaken up and timid on the mound thereafter. Sent his teammate well wishes continually saying “I hope he’s okay” #yankees

— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) July 4, 2020

Tanaka was pitching without a protective screen; many pitchers prefer to do so in live batting practice so they can come close to real game conditions. After Tanaka went down, he was replaced by Jordan Montgomery, who requested a screen.