A second player in the New York Yankees' minor league system has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
While the names of this player and the previously infected minor leaguer have not been revealed, it certainly brings attention to the gravity of the outbreak and why Major League Baseball chose to suspend operations until there is a clearer course of action.
Spring training and the start of the regular season will be delayed as a result of this, and with good reason.
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down nearly every sport in the United States and beyond, as the world prepares to fight the outbreak of this pandemic with careful quarantine and dutiful sanitation.
Some players were choosing to stay at their facilities and get private workouts and remain near the training city in case operations resume. There is a two-fold fear that by going into quarantine, players will gain weight and be unable to resume playing when the crisis does avert, though MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred just recommended the shutting down of all facilities.
There's also the potential that Manfred can suspend pay until baseball operations resume, which would cut several players short of what their contract stipulates. In the mind of many, a day worked is a day paid, and the fear of that going away is threatening.
Yet it seems inevitable at this point that every facility will eventually close as the country heads for a state of emergency with this pandemic, ordering all civilians to remained quarantined for the exception of essential and necessary circumstances.
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