Well, it really was a matter of time before news like this came down in Major League Baseball.
According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, a minor leaguer in the Yankees’ organization has tested positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus). The player was quarantined on Friday after alerting team officials that he was running a fever.
A minor league player in the New York Yankees system has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell ESPN. He is the first known case in baseball. He was quarantined Friday morning after saying he was running a fever.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 15, 2020
Beat writer, Bryan Hoch, went on to say that the minor leaguer, who will remain anonymous due to HIPAA laws, had stayed on the minor league side of the Yankees’ spring training complex.
The Yankees’ minor league complex was closed on Friday and Saturday. Yankees PR said there is no link from the infected player to anyone in big league camp.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 15, 2020
This is the first known case of Coronavirus in MLB, and it likely won’t be the last, as we’ve seen the disease spread easily throughout the United States and around the globe.
MLB had delayed the beginning of the regular season by two weeks, but with teams able to go home and the pandemic continuing to spread, we might not see baseball until May at the very earliest.