Juan Soto Testing Positive For COVID19 Could Be A Disaster

Prior to Opening Day, Nationals left fielder Juan Soto tested positive for COVID19. It should be noted he was not quarantined away from his teammates in the time period between his test and the discovery of the positive results. We also do not know how long he had been infected prior to his test. On that note, players are tested every 48 hours, and they received results 24 – 48 hours later.

Soto has been in the clubhouse and dugout around his teammates. He has been working out in the outfield. In exhibition games, he was in close proximity to Orioles catchers Bryan Holaday, Pedro Severino, and Austin Wynns. He was within six feet of home plate umpire Larry Vanover and Ramon De Jesus. He also came into contact with other umpires and Orioles players.

At this moment, we really have no idea how Soto became exposed and infected with COVID19. We also don’t know if he has spread the disease to anyone. All we know is he has it, and we are waiting with baited breath to see if he has spread the disease.

While we are not quite sure if he has infected other teammates, the Nationals are set to play the Yankees on Opening Day today. Soto’s teammates will come into contact with Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez. They will run past Luke Voit and perhaps the other infielders.

The Yankees players will stand at home plate near Kurt Suzuki, and they will be at first base near Eric Thames. They will come in contact or come near other Nationals players whom we have no idea if they’re infected. As far as we know, Clint Frazier is the only Yankees player who wears a mask at home plate. Perhaps knowing Soto was infected, that will change. Perhaps, it won’t.

The only thing we know right now is Soto has COVID19. We don’t know if he caught it from another player awaiting results. We do not know if he has infected another player who is awaiting results. We don’t know how much of a threat there is that the Nationals players have been infected by their teammate or if someone could be infecting a Yankees player tonight.

This is the exact situation Major League Baseball and the players want to avoid. For everyone’s health, and the sake of the 2020 season, they better hope they found out Soto’s results in time to prevent the spread of infection. If not, things are going to get messy for the Nationals, Yankees, and all of Major League Baseball in very short order.