Yankee prospect Denny Larrondo positive for the Coronavirus!
The New York Yankees pitching prospect has been identified by several sources, including the New York Post, as testing positive for the coronavirus. The pitcher was reporting for practice at the minor league prospect near George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. He is the first professional baseball player to test positive for the disease.
Larrondo is a pitching prospect from Cuba that the New York Yankees signed in 2018. The eighteen-year-old pitched in twelve Gulf Coast League games last season. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, in a conference call on Sunday, indicated that a Yankee player had tested positive for the coronavirus but declined to name the player. He did say that he was quarantined and that his symptoms had subsided.
The minor league complex in Tampa after the news of the positive test was thoroughly cleaned and shut down until March 25th when training might resume. All of the players were put under quarantine, but some showed up Monday for prepared meals that were available outside of the training complex and then returned to the places they were staying. One of those players was Austin DeCarr a Charleston River Dog pitcher who said: “We’re getting information from the team and it’s working out fine, we pick up food here and then go back to wherever we’re staying.â€
The positive test sent ripples throughout all of MLB. With the coronavirus at hand, little is known about when the minor league season will start. The Yankees today said that they would follow CDC guidelines, which suggest that large gatherings should be avoided for eight weeks. That time frame would put the resumption of spring training in June, and a regular-season re-start shortly after that. Cashman commented that “he did not have any interactions with our major-league players,†Cashman said on a conference call.