D-backs RHP Archie Bradley’s dad on upswing after coronavirus battle

Archie Bradley currently knows boredom. He knows coronavirus caused it and that the health threat is nothing to be taken lightly.

That’s because Bradley has the perspective of why, on Tuesday morning, he was sitting at his ranch in Oklahoma instead of heading to the ballpark for what would’ve been the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 18th game of the 2020 schedule.

“I’m keeping the bigger picture in mind,” Bradley told Arizona Sports’ Doug & Wolf. “A lot of people don’t know this, we’re getting through this now, but my dad is actually surviving corona(virus) right now.

“He was released from the hospital about seven days ago. He was a confirmed patient and had pneumonia and so I kind of went through that whole thing with my dad not too long ago.”

The coronavirus threat suspended spring training on March 12 and soon pushed back the regular season. The only news coming out of MLB in the past two weeks has been about how the season could potentially restart under required social distancing and COVID-19 testing practices. The “when” to that complex question appears far off.

Bradley, who was entering his sixth MLB season, is staying in shape.

He knows that he’s lucky — and better off than others — to have built a full weight room with a mound on his Oklahoma ranch. He’s spending time with friend and fellow pitcher Adrian Houser of the Brewers to stay in shape, ready for a restart of the MLB season.

“From a no-sports perspective I’m losing my mind,” Bradley admitted.

“One day I’m super motivated and I’m locked in ready to get back to the season and the next day it’s like, ‘Oh, well, we’re — we don’t even have a spring training date set. What am I working out for right now?’ It’s such a weird time.”

Bradley couldn’t answer whether he would feel comfortable with baseball returning via a bubble, be it all Cactus League teams or all of MLB descending on Arizona to begin a season under isolation from the outside world.

Bradley could only say that he’d hope any restart provided a platform for competitive, meaningful games. If it’s safe and competitive, he’s all for it.

“Yeah, it’d be great to go play but what are we risking?” he added. “Are we going to take (the virus) back to our families when our season’s done? Are we going to have to quarantine when the season’s over before we can even go home?

“It’s crazy, man. Like, these are things I’m sure you guys have talked about on air and everyone is talking about: They’re going to write history about what’s going on right now. Everyone’s going to have to drop their guard and drop what they’re used to doing and really be able to navigate and change things up.”

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