Giants explain when they’ll wear face masks, push umpires to mask up
In a season that’s already been shortened by more than 100 games due to the coronavirus pandemic and labor disagreements between owners and the MLB Players Association, simply getting to the finish line will be an accomplishment.
Players, coaches, team staffers and executives across the sport all share the same goal of winning the 2020 World Series, but completing an abbreviated 60-game season in a manner that ensures the health and safety of all those involved will feel like a victory for many.
As San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence said, there are 30 MLB clubs now acting as one.
“We’re trying to take as few risks as we can and be as smart as we can,” Pence said in a recent Zoom call with reporters. “It’s a weird paradox. We’re 30 teams but also one team, because if any one person messes it up, he can mess it up for everyone. It’s one of those interesting seasons that’s pretty special in that we’re all working together and all these decisions add up in a big way.”
Pence, 37, is among the players taking extra precautions to stay healthy during the pandemic. During a nearly four-month layoff from the end of spring training to the start of summer workouts, he was reluctant to leave the house and unwilling to train with peers when others expressed interest.
Since the Giants returned to Oracle Park, Pence has been receiving instruction from coaches while wearing a mask and he’s always donning a face covering indoors. When Pence sat in an empty room to talk with reporters on Zoom, a man referred to by teammates as “The Reverend,” left the mask on to practice what he preaches.
“If I say ‘wear a mask’, it’s one thing,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said. “If Hunter Pence says it, it’s another thing.”
Pence won’t wear his mask in the batter’s box or out in left field, but there are Giants players who’ve been spotted with masks on the diamond during intrasquad games this week. Infielder Donovan Solano and prospect Will Wilson have played the field with a face covering while first basemen Pablo Sandoval and Wilmer Flores have pulled theirs up when runners have reached first base.
“It’s just whenever a guy gets on base, the hitter doesn’t have the mask on so it’s just … he’s like right next to me so that’s what we’re avoiding,” Flores explained. “That’s why every time someone is on base, I’ll put my mask on. But just there, that’s it. Whenever I’m out there, I’m not wearing a mask.”
It’s unclear if any catchers plan to wear masks during games, but the Giants have encouraged home plate umpires to do so in an effort to protect their players. MLB umpires are not required to wear face coverings during games this season, but after first-year Giants manager Gabe Kapler was asked Monday if he was comfortable watching Doug Eddings and Bill Miller oversee an intrasquad game without masks, a change took place.
When Eddings and Miller returned to Oracle Park to umpire intrasquad games on Tuesday and Wednesday, they both wore face coverings.
“Bill and Doug, I give them a ton of credit because they’re super humble and open, and so our training staff had a few extra very, very comfortable masks and those guys did a great job,” Kapler said. “They were open to giving these masks a try and I think everybody on the field was proud of that.”
MLB testing protocols require players, coaches and umpires to be tested every other day for COVID-19, so on-field personnel should have increased confidence — relative to the rest of society — that the people they’re interacting with closely aren’t infected with the coronavirus.
Players and coaches have expressed their confidence publicly, but coaches will continue to wear masks when giving instruction and Kapler anticipates wearing a mask while managing all 60 games this season.
For some, the adjustment to baseball’s new normal is more of a challenge, but for Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey, the process of offering instruction to his staff has gone smoother than expected. “Once you get over the first couple days of wearing a mask and trying to coach and having conversations one-on-one, it’s really normal,” Bailey said. “It really doesn’t feel any different. We understand the reasons why we’re doing it. We want to play baseball and if we continue to wear masks and take care of ourselves on and off the field and society does too, we’ll be able to get this off the ground and running.”
With a week remaining until Opening Day, there’s a renewed sense of optimism coming from Giants players and coaches. Some entered camp skeptical of whether MLB’s health and safety protocols will work as intended and some surely still have reservations about how traveling, playing against opponents and interacting with people away from the field will affect the league’s ability to stage a successful season.
The threat the coronavirus poses isn’t going away anytime soon, but neither are face coverings and the sense of responsibility the vast majority of players and coaches feel to keep one another healthy. Perhaps that will be enough to help MLB navigate and complete a season unlike any other.