Threat of COVID-19 hangs over first Texas Rangers ‘full-squad’ workout of summer camp
Baseball is a thing again, Globe Life Field is finally serving its purpose, and the Texas Rangers are back together.
They’re just not all together at the same time. Some of them are even at Globe Life Park, which is now more suitable for football than for baseball.
And everyone, when not on the field doing baseball stuff, is wearing masks.
Welcome to the 2020 MLB season, which will forever be haunted by COVID-19.
The Rangers held their first full-squad workout of spring training 2.0 on Friday, mindful of MLB-mandated safety protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic and mindful that one of their teammates has already tested positive.
“I’m kind of expecting weird,” manager Chris Woodward said. “We’re expecting things to be different. And I don’t think anything you hear can surprise me or shock me with any kind of news as of right now.
“I just think the whole situation is different. And that’s kind of our theme, especially the staff and players. And we’ve got to stay positive and just kind of like roll with the punches. Take things head on. Deal with it. I think that’s that’s kind of our model.”
Day 1 included some punches.
Left-handed pitcher Brett Martin tested positive for COVID-19 during the pre-camp screening required by MLB, the Rangers said. He was 1 of 31 players league-wide who tested positive, and the Rangers were one of 19 teams to have a positive test.
The reliever, who was likely to make the Opening Day roster, was experiencing mild symptoms such as fatigue and congestion, and was in quarantine in Dallas with his wife. Martin has Type 1 diabetes, which is an added concern.
In order for Martin to resume working out with the team, he must receive two negative tests more than 24 hours apart and be declared no longer a threat to other players by a physician.
“We’ve been in touch with him regularly,” said general manager Jon Daniels. “He has some mild symptoms, but is feeling better the last couple days.”
Another lefty, Mike Minor, was unable to work out at his scheduled time because the results of his intake test had been delayed. He was supposed to be one of five pitchers to pitch in a simulated on the first day, but only four (Jose Leclerc, Jonathan Hernandez, Luke Farrell and Cody Allen) did.
With Minor part of the starting rotation, the Rangers wanted him to throw four innings and 65 pitches to stay on schedule for the regular season. They waited well after the sim game for the results to come back.
“It’s a little bit of a setback because we want to keep Mike on schedule,” Woodward said. “We want to make sure that all five guys would get four outings.”
In all 42 of the 57 players in the club pool participated. Daniels said that many players are still in the process of intake testing, but the Rangers did not specific which players, besides Minor, were still awaiting their results.
Among those who didn’t participate were Joey Gallo, Todd Frazier, Ronald Guzman and Kyle Gibson.
The Rangers spent part of their night Thursday on a Zoom call to discuss how camp would unfold, with a clear emphasis placed on strictly adhering to the safety protocols in the MLB operations manual.
It goes beyond simply wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
Players, essentially, are to quarantine themselves when not at a ballpark.
Fear of catching COVID-19 and spreading it throughout the team should serve as enough incentive to stay safe.
“You have to check yourself if you don’t actually worry or care about getting this virus,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “That’s why I put [faith in] what the league, along with the union and CDC and all the protocols and the health protocols that we talked through the last few months, for us not to feel that worried and not to feel that much fear.”
Andrus said it won’t be easy for players to not sneak out to a restaurant or bar to blow off some steam. The greater good, taking care of teammates and coaches, must come first in a 60-game season in which one selfish act could cut a large swath through the roster and jeopardize the Rangers’ chances in 2020.
“Being responsible is one of the first things we we’ve been talking about, day in and day out, and we’re going to continue to pound it,” Andrus said. “I think that it is a good thing that everybody understands and knows what we’re going through and how serious it is and then knowing that if everybody does their part, you’re going to make everything easier for us.”
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
