When the Los Angeles Dodgers reported to Dodger Stadium for the start of Summer Camp last month, they were without a handful of notable contributors. Kenley Jansen was among them, and later revealed he wasn’t initially present due to testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The right-hander eventually joined his teammates and was able to pitch in a few exhibition games before the regular season began. While he has looked sharp in the weeks since, Jansen noted he is still experiencing lingering effects of the virus.
“Definitely your conditioning. All those months that you work out so hard, then you have to shut it down for two weeks. I’m still trying to get to 100%,” he said. “It definitely messes up your conditioning and when you try to breathe. Sometimes you get shortness of breath.
“It definitely takes a toll on your body. It’s not a virus to play around with. Even if you beat it, you might feel relief, but you see what it does to your body, and for your body to get back to normal it’s going to take time.”
Jansen elaborated on how severe his symptoms were. “I got a terrible headache, chest pains, my whole body was aching, chills. You feel like you have zero energy,” he said.
“You don’t feel like eating, you don’t feel like drinking, you lose your smell. You’ve just got to keep forcing yourself to eat and drink in order to survive it. I do notice when I don’t eat, it makes you worse. And if you lay down too much in bed, it makes it worse.
“Definitely have to walk around, sit in the sun, keep drinking a lot of fluids, a lot of tea. That’s what I did to get through the three bad days that I had. Tylenol would probably help for an hour or two and then your head would be hurting again.”
While Jansen is still looking to shake off the virus, he is confident he will feel significantly better as he gets further removed from contracting it. “I’m already feeling it. Every day I’m feeling better,” he said.
“I’m for sure going to tell you yes in October that I wasn’t 100%. The first day you start working out, it’s like you’re off balance. It’s hard. You’ve just got to keep going through it and get back in shape.”
Jansen off to great start in 2020
Through his first six appearances of the 2020 season, Jansen has allowed only one run in six innings of work with six strikeouts and an MLB-best four saves.
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