With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic creating for an unprecedented situation across the globe and within Major League Baseball, teams and players have largely been in a holding pattern for the past two months.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had some players remain in Arizona and still utilize Camelback Ranch, while others returned to offseason homes, and some headed for Southern California. All the while MLB has continued to comply with health guidelines from local governments public agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez and Julio Urias were among the players who were working out at Camelback Ranch. And during an appearance on “Live from the Sunset Strip,” hosted by Ross Stripling on the Dodgers’ Instagram account, Chris Taylor named a handful of teammates who recently began to take advantage of access to Dodger Stadium:
“I’m good. I mean, I guess as good as I can be. We can finally get into the stadium the last couple weeks, so that’s been good. … It’s been me, Seager, Barnes, J.T., DJ (Peters), Kenley, Woody and Scotty. They basically let two to three guys come in at a time and we get like two hours.”
With MLB and the Players Association in negotiations over an economic plan and safety protocols for a potential 2020 regular season, the hope is an agreement will be reached by June. That would allow teams to begin planning workout sessions and the various related logistics.
Whether at Camelback Ranch or Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers have exercised extreme caution and complied with physical distancing recommendations.
As players sense Spring Training 2.0 and start of the regular season could be weeks away, more may begin to gather in Los Angeles or Glendale, Ariz. Multiple teams have either re-opened their Spring Training facility or are on the verge of doing so.
In the meantime, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Dodger Stadium is going to serve as the city’s largest coronavirus testing location.
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