The video calls to Georgia happen just before bed or early in the morning, and they bring Tyler Austin a degree of comfort. In one feed, it’s always Austin and his wife, Stephanie. In the other, it’s his parents, or his brother and 1-year-old niece.

Like many of us, the former Yankees slugger can’t be around those he loves most as COVID-19 wreaks its devastation. As of Tuesday night, it had infected at least 2.5 million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Social distancing has proven the best way to combat its spread.

But Austin has stayed a bit more than 6 feet away.

Actually, he’s in Japan.

“It’s a scary time,” the 28-year-old said Monday.

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In November, Austin signed with the DeNA BayStars of Yokohama. He took a one-year deal with a club option that was worth seven figures, a person with knowledge of the deal told NJ Advance Media. With 3.7 million people, Yokohama is Japan’s second-most populated city, behind Tokyo.

Austin thought things might be a little strange at first, but also fun. New country. Different language. Different culture. So, when he left Jan. 24, the Southern boy who grew up a half-hour outside Atlanta knew he’d have to adapt fast. He was excited for the opportunity to prove himself in a new environment, where he expects to play right field with some first base mixed in.

But nothing could have prepared him for the virus that has caught the planet off guard.

He never thought he’d play games without fans in Okinawa, Japan, or at his new home stadium. He never thought Nippon Professional Baseball would be forced to postpone its Opening Day, the way MLB has. NPB was set to start March 20. Now, league officials are crossing their fingers the spread of the coronavirus will have slowed enough for a June start with a truncated schedule.

And Austin never thought he’d have such concern for his family with a 13-hour time zone difference between them.

“I can control absolutely nothing,” he said. “I couldn’t even if I was there, but I feel like I would be able to help out, in a sense, if there were issues that might come up.”

Leaving the U.S. was a difficult choice for Austin, who’s been on the verge of landing full-time spots on MLB rosters since debuting with the Yankees in 2016.

And what a debut that was. In his first-ever at-bat, Austin homered, and then immediately after, Aaron Judge had took first career plate appearance. Stunningly, Judge homered, too. Yankee Stadium went nuts. The replay has been shown thousands of times since.

Austin, a former top prospect, also cemented himself as a forever fan-favorite in the Bronx by starting a benches-clearing brawl in Fenway Park in 2018.

But after the Yankees traded Austin to Minnesota that year in a deadline deal that landed them starting pitcher Lance Lynn, he bounced around, getting big-league time with the Twins, Giants and Brewers.

He said that after he became a free agent in the offseason, he felt like he had very little left to prove at Triple-A, where he’s posted a career .846 OPS.

“I figured if I come over here and perform well, I can get my career back on track a little bit,” he said.

And so far, so good, Austin said.

He and his wife have an apartment not far from Yokohama Stadium, where he hits once a week to try to stay sharp. Sometimes, they go for jogs or to the supermarket. Though the BayStars aren’t playing, Austin said Yokohama has done a “great job” helping them live comfortably. He occasionally monitors what’s happening with MLB and its attempts to start the 2020 season.

With the league considering playing games without fans, Austin could give players a heads up on what its like to play in empty stadiums.

“It’s not ideal,” he said, adding that players appreciate how the fans provide “that extra bit of adrenaline that you didn’t have before.”

Lots of things stood out. He said he could hear the leather of his batting gloves ripping off the bat handle as he stood at the plate. He said he could hear casual conversation in the opposing dugout. Once, he hit a long home run, and the sound of the ball striking metal in the stands could be heard on the TV broadcast.

“It was an eerie feeling, to be honest with you,” he said.

But he understood why it might be necessary.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s about keeping everybody safe. We want to keep the players safe. We want to keep the fans safe.”

And until everything to gets back to as close to normal as possible, Austin will look forward to those video chats, to connecting with his family 7,000 miles away, and to proving himself.

“This is the best opportunity to do that,” he said.

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Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com.