Brandon Belt, Dominic Leone, and Steven Duggar have joined Mike Yastrzemski and Zack Littell in COVID camp.
It seems that COVID has made its way into the San Francisco Giants. Days after Mike Yastrzemski and Zack Littell were placed on the Injured List after testing positive for the coronavirus, Brandon Belt and Dominic Leone have followed suit, as has a member of the training staff.
Brandon Belt tested positive for COVID-19. He’s vaccinated and boosted, per the Giants.
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) April 30, 2022
Dominic Leone tested positive for COVID-19. He’s the third player to contract the virus, joining MIke Yastrzemski and Zack Littell. A member of the Giants training staff also tested positive. All three players are vaccinated and boosted.
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) April 29, 2022
In addition to Belt and Leone hitting the IL (which opened up the door for Jason Krizan to join the team and make his MLB debut on Friday night), outfielder Steven Duggar tested positive for COVID. This is not a coincidence — despite being on the 60-day IL, Duggar has been with the team while he heals his oblique strain.
On the Giants official injury report, Yastrzemski and Littell are listed as having no symptoms, and Duggar is listed as having mild symptoms. Leone’s symptoms are not listed, so you can probably read between the lines there. The announcement of Belt’s COVID status came after the full injury report that listed symptoms.
With the outbreak, the Giants are trying to be extra cautious by limiting personnel that comes into the clubhouse. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi stated on Friday that the team informed staffers that only essential businesses will be permitted into the clubhouse for the time being, and that they’ll try and work on alternate plans with the media.
Giants made the decision to close clubhouse, including to the media, as an organization and after consulting with MLB.
Here’s Farhan Zaidi’s statement: pic.twitter.com/NonUTrzaOh
— Danny Emerman (@DannyEmerman) April 29, 2022
As The Athletic’s Andre Baggarly pointed out, the Giants can’t actually ban reporters from the locker room due to the CBA. But they’re trying to do what they can to keep everyone safe.
The Giants technically are not authorized to close their clubhouse to the media this weekend, per the CBA and MLB. If there’s consequences, Zaidi said he accepts them. He’s trying to do the right thing by everyone to limit spread.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) April 29, 2022
In non-COVID injury news, Joc Pederson is being listed as day-to-day due to his adductor strain, and may be able to avoid the IL. And right-handed pitcher Alex Cobb could be activated in time for Sunday’s game, in which case he would replace Sunday’s starter, “TBD,” who has yet to allow a run this year.
And in other roster news, Jakob Junis was optioned to AAA Sacramento, and Darien Núñez was released. Krizan, Ka’ai Tom, and Mauricio Llovero were all added to the roster.
What time do the Giants play this weekend?
The Giants play the Washington Nationals at 1:05 p.m. PT on both Saturday and Sunday.