Last month Tommy Hanson took a bereavement leave from the Angels following the death of his stepbrother, returning to the team after six days away. He made two starts, pitching relatively well, but then decided he wasn’t fully ready to return, leaving the team again for what proved to be another three weeks.
Hanson is back with the Angels now and expected to start Friday against the Astros. And the right-hander opened up to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times about what he went through since his 26-year-old stepbrother’s death:
MLB instituting bereavement leave a few years back was a good idea, but players regularly being placed on the bereavement list can make it easy to forget that they’re simply guys who just lost someone close to them and in many cases aren’t prepared to return to work after 3-7 days. Kudos to the Angels for giving Hanson all the time he needed away from the team and here’s hoping he’s found some peace in the month since his stepbrother’s death.