At the beginning of the MLB shutdown, about 40 Pirates initially stayed in Bradenton. However, as COVID-19, or coronavirus, has spread to a pandemic, most have gone home by this point.
While each state and country has been impacted and responded differently to coronavirus, the Pirates are giving a consistent message to their players.
"The advice is to stay home," Pirates director of sports medicine, Todd Tomczyk, said in a conference call Wednesday afternoon. "Listen to the CDC [Center of Disease Control and Prevention] and all the infectious disease experts. The advice is to get outdoors and walk your dogs, but if you get outdoors and exercise, practice the social distancing."
For the few Pirates who have remained in Bradenton, there have been light workouts happening three times a week. They have been conducted one-on-one with the same strength coach and player, exclusively at Pirate City.
"We're making sure that we're protecting the safety and security of our coaching staff, our players," Tomczyk said.
Since players cannot go to public gyms at this time, that does create challenges for players to stay in shape. As Tomczyk pointed out, though, athletes excel at adapting, so the medical staff has been in contact with players every day to come up with new workout plans.
“One of our main messages is just being transparent, being collaborative and being open to new ideas and new things, as this is all uncharted for all of us," Tomczyk said.
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