A New York Yankees minor league player tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, the first known instance of coronavirus in baseball.
A New York Yankees minor league player has tested positive for coronavirus, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. This is the first known case of such in baseball.
A minor league player in the New York Yankees system has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell ESPN. He is the first known case in baseball. He was quarantined Friday morning after saying he was running a fever.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 15, 2020
Per Passan, the player was only at New York’s minor league complex in Tampa and never at Steinbrenner Field. This would seem to suggest that no players on the Yankees’ major league roster were exposed. Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, the player will not be identified under the terms of HIPAA.
According to Ken Rosenthal and Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, the Yankees are quarantining their minor leaguers for two weeks. The team will bring meals to the players’ hotel rooms while they are in quarantine.
Not long before Passan broke the story, MLB sent out a memo urging teams to end group workouts.
The full memo Major League Baseball has sent to teams about spring training: pic.twitter.com/LihlK1F2C6
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 15, 2020
JB’s take
Sorry, baseball fans, but this almost certainly means we won’t be seeing action until May at the earliest. This coronavirus pandemic is no joke and the only proper way to contain it will be social distancing. This is going to get worse before it gets better and all proper steps must be taken.
As for the Yankees, don’t get too concerned about the players. As was said before, the affected player was only at the team’s minor league complex. Just the same, even though the team unanimously agreed to stay in Tampa together, don’t be surprised if some players head home soon.
All in all, this is just the latest chapter in the nationwide sports shutdown. The NBA is still suspended and will be for the foreseeable future following Detroit Pistons center Christian Wood’s positive test. He became the third NBA player to test positive for COVID-19.
The NHL has followed suit. March Madness, long the final major sports event prior to baseball season, has been canceled entirely.
Thus, the best thing anyone can do is just stick to small groups, stay inside if necessary and, more than anything, stay safe.
