After the unpredictability of a pandemic destroyed another day’s schedule, Alex Bregman remained by himself in the batter’s box at Minute Maid Park. A truncated Sunday workout ended a tad before 2 p.m., and Bregman’s work was not done.
Wladimir Sutil stood on the mound and tossed batting practice. Bregman bashed baseball after baseball. An iPad mounted to his right filmed every swing. Bregman retreated to the device between rounds, analyzing the work with bench coach Joe Espada.
“We need to provide all the repetitions that he needs for him to feel that his swing is there,” Espada said. “We tried to (get him) cage work, extra work on the field, extra video, whatever he needs to get him right. Not only him but the whole team.”
Chances for meaningful work disappear with each day. The Astros planned their second intrasquad game of summer camp for Sunday afternoon. Manager Dusty Baker envisioned major league umpires working the contest. The pandemic prevented it.
A staff member’s potential exposure to COVID-19 robbed the team of its entire major league pitching arsenal Sunday. Pitching coach Brent Strom and bullpen coach Josh Miller were absent from the workout, too. Any idea for an intrasquad went away, leaving the Astros again searching for the most ideal way to prepare players for a fast-approaching season.
“It’s challenging,” Espada said. “The guys aren’t getting the opportunities to get live (batting practices) or (simulated) games. For both sides — pitchers and hitters. We’ve got to do the best we can.”
Since starting summer camp July 1, the Astros have canceled two workouts. Bregman missed another after a delay in receiving his COVID-19 test results. As of Sunday night, 12 days away from its scheduled season opener against the Seattle Mariners, the team is without its entire pitching staff.
Strom and his pitchers are all awaiting COVID-19 test results, Baker said. The entire team was retested Sunday morning. Baker had no specific timetable for the return of his pitching staff. Previous delays in the league’s testing procedure make forecasting anything impossible.
The team canceled Saturday’s workout after an unnamed staff member was “potentially” exposed to COVID-19 by a “positive individual outside of the organization.” Baker said Strom was not the staff member potentially exposed.
Baker intimated the staffer worked in the visiting side of the clubhouse, where pitchers have been dressing and congregating throughout summer camp. Catchers Martin Maldonado and Dustin Garneau — both of whom dress with the position players in the home clubhouse — were present Sunday.
According to Major League Baseball’s operations manual, individuals who come into “close contact” with a COVID-19 positive person are permitted to continue their duties if they test negative and are completely asymptomatic. They must receive a saliva test for seven straight days after their potential exposure and undergo more frequent temperature checks and symptom monitoring for at least 10 days.
Asked when his pitching staff and pitching coach could return, Baker said “hopefully very soon, hopefully tomorrow.”
“It depends on where you take the tests or what kind of tests you take,” Baker said. “They could find out within hours. It could be this evening, or it could be tomorrow, hopefully, at the latest.”
Instead of an intrasquad game featuring major league pitching, the team settled for a brief live batting practice session. The three pitchers who were used — Enoli Paredes, Jojanse Torres and Brett Conine — were taken from the group of players who have been working out at the University of Houston. None had ever pitched at Minute Maid Park or competed above Class AA Corpus Christi. Each threw one simulated inning.
“We’re doing what we can do, and we’re doing it with the people we can do it with — the people that are available,” Baker said. “I continue to get the guys ready that are here. The guys had a great attitude about things. No complaining. Everyone that was supposed to show up showed up.
“You don’t like it, but at the same time, you have to adjust, and you have to make the best out of a potentially bad situation.”
Baker leans on Espada and Strom, who have far more intricate knowledge of the Astros’ roster. Espada constructed the entire summer camp schedule and rearranged Minute Maid Park to meet social distancing guidelines. Plans he made continue to get wrecked.
Players benefit only so much from defensive drills or rounds of typical pregame batting practice. Most position players did not see live pitching at all during the shutdown.
Asking them to return at an elite level after only three weeks is difficult enough. Removing opportunities to see major league-caliber pitching only worsens the plight.
“We knew this was going to be a challenging season, and we’re up for it,” Espada said. “This team, we’ve been through a lot, and we know we could handle this. Our job as coaches and as players is to understand our goals and stay together through this, and we’ll be OK.”
Baker is an eternal optimist. He spoke Sunday of his time as a Marine. It taught him never to panic.
“If I’m unsettled, there’s a good chance everyone is going to be unsettled,” Baker said. “My job is to remain calm and to find a temporary solution and hopefully a permanent solution.”
But what if none seems to exist? However difficult the Astros’ summer camp is, it’s just that — a summer camp. Few in the organization seem to know what will happen if this continues into the regular season. Does a batch of delayed test results postpone a game? Will a potential exposure to the coronavirus take out an entire segment of the team in the heat of a pennant race?
Asked if the league has outlined its regular-season protocol for these circumstances, Baker said “we don’t know yet, exactly” before launching into praise for the team’s alternate players training at UH.
That group arrived at Minute Maid Park on Sunday afternoon as a reward for their work. They walked from the right-field entrance while Bregman finished his post-workout batting practice. Monday, there are plans for a nine-inning intrasquad game featuring both groups of players. Espada envisions three or four straight days of intrasquads to compensate for lost time. Nothing is set in stone.
“Hopefully,” Espada said, “we get everyone back here tomorrow.”
chandler.rome@chron.com
twitter.com/chandler_rome
"lose" - Google News
July 13, 2020 at 06:00AM
https://ift.tt/2Cv2d3i
What next? Astros lose more ground as pitchers miss workout - Houston Chronicle
"lose" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3fa3ADu https://ift.tt/2VWImBB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "What next? Astros lose more ground as pitchers miss workout - Houston Chronicle"
Post a Comment