Giants suspend Summer Camp workouts

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants announced Tuesday that they have suspended workouts at Oracle Park, pending the results of COVID-19 tests conducted on Saturday.

The delay came right as the Giants were preparing to ramp up activities at Summer Camp. They had been scheduled to stage their first intrasquad game at Oracle Park on Tuesday, but manager Gabe Kapler said those plans have now been pushed to Wednesday.

“We do expect testing results at some point today, and this will help us clear things up,” Kapler said during a Zoom call with reporters. “Assuming that we're all clear, we'll pick this back up tomorrow on our regular schedule, and today's workout will just be handled tomorrow. We really don't believe this is going to hurt our camp or development just to miss a day. It'll be a nice mental blow for our players.”

Other teams have also been forced to postpone workouts due to testing delays over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, including the A’s, Nationals and Astros. Players and club personnel are tested every other day as part of Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols. Kapler said he’s optimistic that the lags will be resolved before the Giants play their season opener against the Dodgers on July 23.

“I understand there are going to be hiccups along the way,” Kapler said. “I think more than anything, I just maintain a level of empathy for everybody that's working really hard to get our camp up and running, but also across the league and for all the clubs that are working really hard to put their players in a position to have success. Nobody expected this to be easy, and everybody is doing the best that they can.”

Buster Posey is among the Giants who have voiced reservations about playing through a pandemic, but Kapler said Tuesday’s developments have not caused any players to change their minds on whether they plan to play this year.

“We have different varying levels of comfort or discomfort,” Kapler said. “We stay in very close contact with our players. I think most of the anxiety is just around COVID in general. I don't think it's related in any way to anything other than what society in general is experiencing.”

The Giants have had four members of their organization test positive for COVID-19 thus far: outfield prospect Hunter Bishop, right-hander Luis Madero and two unnamed individuals. Bishop and Madero granted the Giants permission to announce their test results.