CHICAGO – Chicago Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy is recovering from a severe case of COVID-19 that quarantined him for 30 days.
The 38-year-old Hottovy broke down as he detailed a harrowing ordeal during an emotional conference call on Wednesday. The Cubs resume workouts Friday for the first time since Major League Baseball shut down spring training camps on March 12.
“It’s still kind of raw in the fact that we just got through it and to relive it,” said Hottovy, in his second season as the team’s pitching coach. “Obviously, it affected us pretty significantly for a month. I felt it was important for me to talk through what I went through because too much of what’s out there is the easy stories of what people go through with this.”
The former major leaguer learned he had the virus on the third day he felt ill, receiving the diagnosis after a nasal test. He isolated in a spare bedroom at his family’s home with symptoms that got so bad he spent part of one day at the hospital.
Hottovy tested negative about two weeks ago and still gets winded easily. He is grateful his wife, Andrea, and young children did not get sick.