BRADENTON, Fla. -- Approximately 40 Pirates major-league players, along with members of the coaching staff, are expected to remain in Bradenton, Fla. to utilize the facilities during the league-wide shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, the team said Saturday.
They will start with a light workout Monday. Camps and workouts will remain closed to the public.
There were 47 active players and three rehabbing players -- Jameson Taillon, Steven Brault and Clay Holmes -- remaining in their major-league camp. The club had their first batch of cuts on Mar. 9 and 10, sending a dozen players to minor-league spring training.
MLB and the Player's Association gave players the option to go home starting Friday night.
“I do like the idea of guys having the option to go home, just because so much is up in the air right now,” Taillon, the team's player union representative, said in a conference call Friday afternoon.
While some teams have decided to disperse or shut down spring training during the hiatus, most of the Pirates have decided to stay in Bradenton. Other teams that are planning to stay as a full group, or close to one, are the Yankees, Rangers, Padres, Giants and Tigers.
This is the first spring for manager Derek Shelton, pitching coach Oscar Marin and most of the coaching staff, so the players remaining in camp will get extra time to work with the new staff.
"You take advantage of the time," Joe Musgrove said after his start Thursday. "... I think a couple extra weeks of workouts, a couple extra weeks to work with the new staff and [to] get with Oscar more and dive into some more things that we might not have had time to do this spring. That's what we're going to do. Try to take advantage of the time we have."
The team did not say which players and coaches were staying. Taillon said Friday he would stay in Bradenton to continue his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Additionally, the Pirates will have the facilities at LECOM Park professionally sanitized and deep cleaned for the second time this month Sunday.
The Pirates originally deep cleaned their spring facility on Mar. 3, shortly after there was a reported case of coronavirus in Manatee County, where Bradenton is located. That cleaning was done out of an "overabundance of caution" and took place during an off-day.
Major League Baseball suspended spring training activities Mar. 12. The regular season was also delayed at least two weeks, though it will almost certainly be longer than that.
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