Whit Merrifield describes changes made in Royals clubhouse because of COVID-19
A year ago, the Royals’ had four walk-off victories.
That included one on May 26 when Whit Merrifield singled past Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela in the 10th inning and Billy Hamilton scored the winning run in the Royals’ 8-7 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
After crossing the plate, Hamilton was greeted by his teammates, while Jorge Soler gave Merrifield a bear hug and lifted him off the ground. Other Royals players joined that celebration, putting their hands on Merrifield and one player even jumped on his back.
Can you imagine this happening during the COVID-19 pandemic?
As the Royals prepare to open summer camp ahead of a 2020 season shortened by the coronavirus, just how will the players celebrate walk-off hits, big homers or clutch strikeouts?
“We were talking about that a little bit today, sort of how we’re going to navigate that,” Merrifield said Wednesday on the MLB Network. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll think of something. We have nothing but time between now and opening day to figure out some unique ways to go about high fives and handshakes without actually doing it.”
Merrifield joined teammates at Kauffman Stadium this week for workouts after not seeing them when spring training in Arizona was cut short.
The reunion was unique.
“It’s been really excited to see all the guys,” he said. “Trying not to hug guys or give guys too many high-fives.“
The Royals will have 60 players at camp and because of social distancing, the clubhouse looks much different.
The players also will have to order takeout.
“It’s weird, especially for us,” Merrifield said. “We actually just did some great things to our home clubhouse. It still looks great, but it’s much more spread out, we’ve got lockers in the middle of the clubhouse now because we’ve got 60 guys, whatever it is coming in for camp.
“The food room is shut down, you’ve got to sort of navigate differently, because you’ve got to keep space between everybody. My hangout was the training room. I’d go in and hang out with those guys and watch TV a little bit, get some treatment. Now it’s not a hangout. Now you only go there to get treatment. We’re talking about having to order food and then go pick it up like we’re ordering at our apartment.
“A lot of different things are going to be unique about this year and it’s going to take a lot of getting used to, but hopefully it won’t be this way forever.”
Here’s the interview:
