Notes: Walls' cheering section; fears allayed

ATLANTA -- After fielding ground balls at shortstop and taking batting practice Friday afternoon, Taylor Walls made his way down to the left-field stands at Truist Park and spent the better part of half an hour signing autographs and taking photos with fans clad in Rays gear. The rookie shortstop is going to be a popular man this weekend.

Walls lives in Cordele, Ga., which is about 2 1/2 hours south of the Braves’ home ballpark, and he’s expecting a big crowd to make the drive from Crisp County during the Rays’ three-game series in Atlanta. Walls said he only left tickets for his immediate family and therefore didn’t know the specific number. But he figured his personal cheering section over the next three days combined could reach “a couple hundred” people.

“A lot of hometown support. It feels good,” said Walls, who went 1-for-3 with a walk in Friday night's 7-6, 10-inning win over the Braves. “I've been seeing it the past couple weeks on social media, whether it's Facebook, stuff like that, people tagging me or messaging me, 'Hey, we're coming. We've got a group of 15-20 people coming.' I'm like, man, there's been a bunch of people telling me that, so it's going to add up to be quite a bit of people from there.”

Indeed, Walls had a large contingent in the stands nearly two hours before Friday’s first pitch, including one close friend holding a sign that read: “CRISP COUNTY (hearts) TAYLOR WALLS.”

Friday was the 25-year-old Walls’ first trip to Truist Park, where the Braves began playing in 2017. He said he played at Turner Field in high school and attended a handful of games with his family there growing up. Walls said he was a fan of Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann and just about everyone who played for Atlanta.

Of course, Walls was usually too busy playing sports to watch them on TV -- even baseball. He has never been the type to sit still when he could be doing something else. But he had a soft spot for the Braves, which made this weekend trip special.

“I really didn't watch too much baseball growing up, to be honest with you. But if I did, it was always the Braves,” Walls said. “They were the local channel, closest team to go to, so whenever baseball was something that I was paying attention to, it was usually the Atlanta Braves.”

This weekend is also a homecoming for Austin Meadows, who figured he might have around 100 friends and family members in attendance.

Rays cleared after COVID-19 testing
Before boarding their morning flight to Atlanta on Friday, all the Rays’ players, coaches and staff who took part in the All-Star Game festivities tested negative for COVID-19.

Manager Kevin Cash said the Rays were concerned after learning that the Yankees-Red Sox game on Thursday had been postponed to allow MLB to conduct COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, with six Yankees players confirmed as COVID-19 positive, including All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge.

That news was particularly relevant to the Rays, as three players -- Mike Zunino, Joey Wendle and Andrew Kittredge -- and their entire coaching staff were around Judge at Tuesday's All-Star Game in Denver. With MLB’s guidance, Cash said the necessary Rays personnel underwent rapid testing, and all tested negative before their flight to Atlanta.

“Fortunately for us, we were all negative. And hopefully for certainly the Yankees and those players, they're OK,” Cash said. “You don't want to see anybody test positive, have symptoms. I have no idea what exactly is happening, but you wish them well.”

The Rays are one of the many teams to have had at least 85 percent of their Tier 1 personnel vaccinated against COVID-19. The Yankees were one of the first teams to clear that threshold, however, and left-hander Josh Fleming said that was a reminder that teams must still be careful.

“Hopefully, we can continue to stay diligent in what we've been doing and guys can continue to stay healthy and COVID-free,” Zunino said. “We've done such a great job here. The guys are very responsible. We feel as if we're a family here and we don't want to put anybody at risk, so we'll continue to be cautious and have each other's best interest in mind.”