Gary Sanchez tests positive for coronavirus; third Yankee case this week
NEW YORK — The 2021 Yankees have prided themselves on how they have bounced back from adversity time and again. Thursday they got another chance to do that when COVID-19 struck their roster again. Catcher Gary Sanchez tested positive for the coronavirus, manager Aaron Boone announced before the series opener against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium.
“He tested positive for COVID on the rapid test, he didn’t feel well (as he was) leaving last night and then woke up today not feeling great,” the Yankees manager said. “So he’s positive on the rapid test, he’ll now have the PCR tests and we’ll find out, I guess, the official (results) later tonight.”
Sanchez is the third Yankees player to test positive this week and is part of the third outbreak the Yankees have had this season. Monday night, Gerrit Cole tested positive after suffering what the team said was cold-like symptoms and the next day Jordan Montgomery tested positive.
“I guess I’m a little concerned about everything,” Boone said when asked if he was worried about further spread in the clubhouse. “I mean, we just gotta keep doing the best we can. And, actually, Gary was wearing a mask much of yesterday. I mean, we continue to get hit by some things. So we just have to deal with it the best we can and try to get the best care for our guys.”
The Yankees certainly have experience getting through these COVID-19 outbreaks. Despite being one of the first teams to reach the 85% vaccination rate, which MLB and the union agreed on to reduce testing and loosen COVID-19 protocols, this the third outbreak they have had at the major league level this season. The majority of the positives are breakthrough cases, which means they tested positive after having been fully vaccinated.
They had an outbreak of breakthrough cases in May. While Gleyber Torres had a false positive, but several support personnel in the traveling party and three coaches missed time. Third base coach Phil Nevin missed a month when his COVID-19 case uncovered a staph infection in his blood. After the All-Star break, the Yankees had six players on the COVID-19 injured list, including reliever Jonathan Loaisiga, slugger Aaron Judge and third baseman Gio Urshela who all tested positive after the break.
That is a total of 19 members of the Yankees’ traveling party this year.
Boone said that the Yankees have not figured out why they have continued to have issues this season.
“I mean obviously, we were in Florida this past week. And that’s been one of the places of some rising cases and things like that,” Boone said. “So I’m sure that could have played a role.
“But it’s hard to know who contracted what, where, when, and how, and, again, just trying to navigate it the best we can.”
The Yankees have gone back to some of the COVID-19 protocols they used before reaching the 85% rate, but not all. There is more mask-wearing among support personnel. Jameson Taillon said the other day they were practicing social distancing as best they can.
But Boone said they aren’t sure what else they need to do.
“Obviously (we’re doing) the contact tracing stuff comes into play once that’s determined, and those guys then go through some testing,” Boone said. “Essentially that’s how Monty found out about his positivity in the contact tracing, but yeah, we’re just again doing the best we can.
“I mean, just try to be responsible and safe,” Boone added. “I think all of us all the country, everyone’s learning as this thing continues to evolve. So just trying to do the best we can with it.”
The Yankees were relatively lucky in 2020.
DJ LeMahieu and Luis Cessa tested positive before they reported for training camp in July. Aroldis Chapman tested positive during that camp. While they had their schedule revamped by outbreaks on other teams, they got through relatively without a case.
“Once we actually started camp last year, I think we made it through the whole year without anything and then have obviously been hit pretty hard and hit hard of late,” Boone said.
And they’ve gotten familiar with the challenges.
“There’s less shock each time even though, obviously we’ve had some really significant people on our team have it happen to and so I think the more and more it happens the more you’re not completely caught off guard or or floored by the news,” Boone said. “I think you just kind of check in on the individuals and see how they’re doing and make sure they’re okay. But from there it becomes ‘All right, what do we have to do baseball wise now to move on and go out and try and grab one grab a W.’ ”
The Yankees called up Rob Brantly to backup catcher Kyle Higashioka before Thursday’s game.
