Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez did not report to spring training facilities on Tuesday after the team announced that he had a fever and upon further testing, revealed that he had the flu.
Sanchez was assessed by team doctors where it was originally unclear whether or not he would be tested for coronavirus. He was not.
One case of coronavirus has been reported in Hillsborough County, which is where the Yankees’ spring-training facilities at George M. Steinbrenner Field are located.
“We all touch the same baseball,’’ Yankees reliever Zach Britton said last week (h/t New York Post). “The worst thing that could happen is somebody in here gets sick because of the close contact we have with each other.”
According to News 6 Orlando, there have been 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Tuesday morning with the Hillsborough County resident being a 29-year-old female with a known history of travel.
Major League Baseball, along with the NHL, NBA, and MLS cut off media availability in their locker rooms in an attempt to protect their players and personnel.
Before his fever, Sanchez had been held out over the last week because of lower-back soreness, which was just the latest health issue involving the Yankees this spring.
They have already lost Luis Severino for the season to Tommy John surgery, James Paxton for two months while he recovers from back surgery, Giancarlo Stanton to a calf strain, and Aaron Judge to a broken rib.
