The Mariners have announced that off-season acquisition Yoshihisa Hirano has been activated off the IL after a lengthy battle with COVID-19. Hirano was the most severely afflicted Mariner with the illness—although others, like Dylan Moore, had tested positive and were asymptomatic and just had to quarantine and arrived later to summer camp, Hirano missed camp almost entirely. He started by throwing bullpens in Peoria before progressing to Tacoma last week and throwing against the players there. Hirano had thrown just five innings in the spring before things got shut down and they, uh, weren’t great, surrendering three runs in five innings with a home run and two walks (although three strikeouts), and with the lengthy layoff there will probably be some rust as he starts throwing to MLB-quality batters again, but Hirano will join Matt Magill and Dan Altavilla (!
Mariners reinstate Yoshihisa Hirano from IL, call up LHP Aaron Fletcher, move LHP Taylor Guilbeau to IL
