MLB Player and Pitching Coach Reportedly Tested Positive for Coronavirus in Recent Weeks

The positive tests add another obstacle towards the return of baseball to action

MLB Coronavirus Tests
A view of the New York Yankees Spring Training facility at George M. Steinbrenner Field on March 18, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

As if Major League Baseball didn’t have enough to worry about right now with regards to restarting its season, the league now has, at least, a couple of positive tests for coronavirus to deal with. According to The New York Post, an MLB player and a pitching coach contracted COVID-19 in recent weeks.

The pitching coach is said to have contracted the virus “weeks ago and is now recovered,” while the player tested positive more recently, though the Post report does say that he is not believed to have spread the virus to anyone else involved with MLB. The player is said to be a 40-man roster player, so he’s likely not a star player.

MLB has been trying to come to an agreement with its players on the financials of a deal to help baseball return to action, but so far, the two sides remain far apart. And while two positive tests are not enough to shut down the attempt to start the season up with COVID-19 guidelines, they do add another obstacle towards a successful negotiation.

It also doesn’t help the league that one of its plans — to play games at spring training sites — would see baseball played in two of the states with the highest number of rising coronavirus cases, Arizona and Florida. Though the finances do appear to be the main stumbling block, any reminder that we are still, in fact, under a pandemic will surely not help matters for MLB or its players.

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