Diamondbacks open Chase Field for individual workouts
May 22, 2020, 8:31 AM | Updated: 8:35 am
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
The Arizona Diamondbacks have opened Chase Field for individual workouts Friday as players ramp up to restart spring training, Arizona Sports confirmed.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported Friday morning that players had already been back at the D-backs’ spring training facility, Salt River Fields.
Opening two facilities to a limited number of players will allow for more of them to work out while practicing league-mandated social distancing guidelines and protecting themselves from the coronavirus.
The D-backs’ reopening their facilities follows other MLB teams. The Miami Marlins were the first to do so Tuesday.
In the state of Arizona, the Diamondbacks follow the Phoenix Suns, who by Monday had opened their temporary home, Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Arizona Cardinals opened their home base in Tempe to only essential staffers on Tuesday.
As for where MLB stands in a return amid the pandemic, the baseball players’ association gave management a wide-ranging response Thursday to a 67-page proposed set of protocols for a season to be played during the coronavirus pandemic.
Management had presented the union and the 30 teams the proposed draft last Friday.
The union said Thursday it addressed: protections for high-risk players, access to pre- and postgame therapies, testing frequency, protocols for positive tests, in-stadium medical personnel and sanitization procedures.
Players viewed many of the concepts in the original draft as over-the-top, such as arriving in uniform at the ballparks, a prohibition on them leaving hotels without team permission and a ban on guests other than immediate family members. Players also objected to a ban on the use of showers and hydrotherapy.
The union wants more frequent testing than management’s proposed “multiple times per week.”
MLB is expected to make an economic proposal to the union within a few days. MLB hopes to start the season by early July.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
