St. Louis Cardinals: Genesis Cabrera among the three to have COVID-19

The St. Louis Cardinals announced that two players have tested positive for COVID-19. Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez are the two.

It was bound to happen eventually, but on Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that two pitchers tested positive while waiting to be cleared to participate in the first of the team’s official workouts. These two positives add to the other single positive the team had announced, bringing the team total to three.

Per the Cardinals, the two pitchers were Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez. According to Mike Shildt, both players are asymptomatic.

Being asymptomatic is all you can ask here if any player does have to get it, but thankfully Cabrera and Sanchez were able to be isolated so the virus can clear their system before they were able to spread it to others already in the camp.

As Mozeliak announced, the team is still awaiting more test results, so the number may tick up by a few more on Sunday.

For now, Cabrera and Sanchez just need to isolate and let this get through their system. The intake process after testing positive is quite rigorous. To be able to participate in official workouts again, both players need to test negative on two COVID-19 tests, 24 hours apart. They also need to be without a fever for 72 hours and take an antibody test.

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They aren’t playing around with this.

Around the league, there were a total of 38 positives from over 4,000 tests as players and coaches arrived at camp. A positive percentage of under 1.5% is really a good thing off the bat. Of course, everyone would prefer nobody gets the virus, but that’s not the reality we are currently looking at.

Ideally, these initial positives (and testimonials from players like Freddie Freeman) let every player know that this is serious and that every player has their own responsibility to do their part to stay safe and socially responsible. (Hey, that applies to you too).

Giovanny Gallegos, Alex Reyes, and Carlos Martinez are among the names waiting to get approval to join team workouts but should get test results this week. The Cardinals already have fewer positive tests than some teams, the important thing is going to be keeping up the discipline for the whole season; otherwise, we can say goodbye to baseball in 2020.