2 Cardinals pitchers test positive for COVID-19
Cabrera, Sánchez asymptomatic; club 'hopeful and optimistic'
ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals had two pitchers test positive for COVID-19 this week during intake testing for Summer Camp, the club announced Saturday.
Having given consent to be identified by the team, left-handers Génesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sánchez had positive tests after arriving in St. Louis and going through the team’s testing process Thursday. Both players were placed in isolation. The Cardinals now have three positive tests within the organization, but the first has not been identified as either a player or staff member.
Manager Mike Shildt said that both Cabrera and Sánchez are asymptomatic. That does help in terms of how long they’ll be away, but they have to test negative twice within a span of at least 24 hours before participating in workouts at Busch Stadium.
“We’re very hopeful and optimistic they won’t be out terribly long,” Shildt said. “But nonetheless, we’re going to have to draw from some reserves that are there. We’re still in a really good place for being able to execute our baseball activities.”
Cabrera and Sánchez traveled to the United States from the Dominican Republic on an MLB charter plane that arrived late to Miami on Wednesday, thus delaying the players’ travel to St. Louis. They were tested early Thursday and were awaiting results Friday, which is why they were not at the first official workout at Busch Stadium.
The other players who traveled with Cabrera and Sánchez were Carlos Martínez, Elehuris Montero and Ivan Herrera, Shildt mentioned on Friday. Some of them still have pending tests, Shildt also said, but he was not able to clarify.
Reliever Giovanny Gallegos is also not in camp; he has remained in Mexico until he has received clearance to travel. Alex Reyes and Junior Fernandez have not appeared on the field at workouts.
“Hopefully nobody else is affected by it,” Shildt said. “That’s one of the reasons the protocols are in place -- for guys to be tested and then quarantined and then re-tested, and go through the protocols. They’re obviously affected on a multitude of levels. We’re comfortable that nobody else is affected -- just the flow of them being able to get work.”