Royals view Marlins’ COVID outbreak as bad for all of baseball, potentially devastating
The Kansas City Royals continue to deal with the ramifications of COVID-19 infections among their starting lineup as well as their starting pitching rotation.
The Royals have announced eight positive tests among their players since the start of spring training 2.0.
First baseman Ryan O’Hearn just returned from a coronavirus stint on the injured list Monday while outfielder Hunter Dozier remains in isolation. Starting pitchers Brad Keller and Jakob Junis, who also contracted the virus, continue to ramp up their throwing progressions after having been cleared late in camp.
While the Royals were alone in shouldering those consequences, the news of an outbreak among Miami Marlins players and staff that totaled 13 positive tests — 11 for players — rocked all of Major League Baseball Monday and raised doubts about the rest of this season being played without interruption in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.
MLB postponed the Baltimore Orioles-Marlins game as well as the New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies game as a result of concerns about potential spread. The Marlins just finished a series at Philadelphia Sunday.
“It’s worrisome,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We were talking about that internally. We were kind of getting the Chinese water torture-version of this COVID thing.
“You could kind of hear it behind the scenes or watching some other teams that were like, ‘What’s the big deal? We haven’t had any of this. We’re all good.’ My statement was it’s going to hit some teams like a tsunami. It’s going to hit them hard and then it’s going to go fast. That’s bad for the game.”
O’Hearn, who remained asymptomatic throughout his period of isolation, described both the predicament he found himself in and the ongoing situation with the Marlins as “scary.”
“It’s kind of scary to see you can have this thing and not even realize it,” O’Hearn said of his personal situation. “I had no idea. When they told me that I tested positive, I was shocked. I felt 100 percent healthy.”
Looking back on it, O’Hearn expressed gratitude that his case was discovered early enough that it didn’t lead to multiple positive test results among his teammates.
“Thankfully they caught it when they did and nothing happened like what’s going on with the Marlins right now, which is a scary situation for those guys,” O’Hearn said. “Seems like it has spread like wildfire. It’s definitely a scary situation.”
Royals All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield spoke passionately about his feeling of duty to his teammates at the start of spring training 2.0. He said that sense of responsibility explained why he never seriously considered opting out or not playing this year.
On Monday, Merrifield discussed his concern that the situation with the Marlins had potentially compromised the entire MLB season. He also expressed frustration about speculation that the Miami outbreak might have been preventable.
“It obviously puts a little more responsibility on us knowing that what we do affects the whole league,” Merrifield said. “Nobody wants the league to stop playing or get shut down. It’s important for us to follow procedures and follow protocol and do our best to stay away from things that could get us in trouble as far as the COVID goes.”
“I don’t know the specifics about Miami. We’ve heard rumblings. Hopefully, some of the stuff we’re hearing isn’t true. If it is, then it’s unfortunate that some selfish people in certain situations would put the entire league in jeopardy. Hopefully, it’s a learning experience and stuff like this won’t happen again.”
