Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez announced Sunday that two Nats players have tested positive for coronavirus.
The two players have not reported to Nationals Park yet for summer training.
Dave Martinez: The Nationals had two players test positive for coronavirus during the in-take process this week.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 5, 2020
Sixty players were tested. That does not mean 58 have been cleared to begin training. Some others are still waiting for results. Dave Martinez mentioned yesterday that guys who traveled from the Dominican Republic were not full-go yet.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 5, 2020
Dave Martinez says that the two players who tested positive have not been to Nationals Park. It was during the in-take process and they received results before coming to the facility.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 5, 2020
“Everybody assumed that everybody (that) got in got tested on Wednesday,” Martinez said according to NBC Sports Washington’s Todd Dybas. “That wasn’t the case for us. We still got guys out there that came in late and are still waiting on the results. I think being — this weekend, things were a little tough because it was a holiday weekend. So hopefully we’ll get all these results tomorrow and guys will start trickling in and get ready to work out.”
Martinez, who underwent heart surgery during the 2019 season, also revealed that he’s been trying to be as safe as possible.
“As we all know, I’m definitely at a little bit of a risk, but I’m doing everything I can to stay healthy,” Martinez added. “I wash my hands 47 times a day. I wear my mask everywhere. I leave here with gloves on. I’m going to do everything I can to stay healthy. The biggest part of that is not to get anybody else sick, in case I do come up with it. I don’t want to get anybody sick. I worry about that more than I worry about me getting sick. I just want to make sure I’m healthy and everybody else stays healthy.”
The Nats’ positive tests comes on the heels of Major League Baseball announcing on Friday that 31 players and seven staff members have tested positive overall. At that point, 19 of 30 teams had at least one positive test during the initial intake testing. Here are all the details of the cases league-wide.
The first set of results for COVID-19 testing have been jointly announced by @MLB and the @MLB_PLAYERS. pic.twitter.com/zlqZPuxLxh
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) July 3, 2020
The Nationals also had three players opt-out of the coronavirus shortened 2020 season including Ryan Zimmerman, Joe Ross, and Welington Castillo.
The Nationals will reportedly open the season on July 23 against the New York Yankees.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
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