COVID News & Notes: Freeman, Paredes, Cardinals

COVID-19 has taken its toll on the baseball world, with Freddie Freeman being one of the most prominent names to test positive for the virus.  Now recovered and back at the Braves’ camp, Freeman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Gabriel Burns and other reporters about his experience, which included a week of symptoms that even left Freeman fearful for his life on the evening of July 3 when he ran a fever of 104.5 degrees.  “I said a little prayer that night.  I’ve never been that hot before.  My body was really, really hot,” Freeman explained.  “So I said, ’Please don’t take me.’  I wasn’t ready.  It got a little worrisome that night for me.”

Fortunately, Freeman’s decreased to 101 degrees the following morning, and three days of fever gave way to four days where “it almost felt like I had a sinus problem.  I’d stand up, get dizzy and I’d have to sit back down.”  After that, however, Freeman went nine days without any other symptoms.  After getting word yesterday that he had tested negative on two consecutive coronavirus tests, Freeman received full clearance at a local hospital and was at training camp that same afternoon.  While “we’re going to take it day by day” in terms of getting into game shape, Freeman will try to pack as much work as possible over what remains of training camp: “That’s the whole goal, for me to be ready Opening Day.”

Some more on other pending and cleared COVID-19 cases from around baseball…

• A positive coronavirus test delayed Isaac Paredes’ arrival at the Tigers’ camp until yesterday, but the prospect is now feeling healthy, he told MLB.com’s Jason Beck.  Paredes wasn’t asymptomatic, though he was feeling better even before traveling to the United States from his home in Mexico.  One of the top prospects in Detroit’s farm system, Paredes is only 21 years old and has yet to play any Triple-A ball, though he could have potentially been a candidate for the Tigers’ Opening Day roster had he been healthy.  Instead, Paredes will be assigned to the taxi squad and is “ready and willing to do whatever the staff and the manager want me to do.  I’m ready to play whatever position they want me to.“
• The Cardinals provided updates on some of their COVID-positive players (MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold were among those to report the news.)  Left-handers Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez were both cleared to participate in training, and Cabrera was at Busch Stadium today to play catch while Sanchez will join the Cards’ taxi squad at their minor league training site.  Alex Reyes, meanwhile, confirmed that his delayed arrival to training camp was indeed due to the coronavirus, though Reyes was asymptomatic.  Once one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, Reyes has been limited to only seven MLB innings over the last three seasons due to various injuries, so the Cardinals weren’t likely to rush him to the Opening Day roster even had he been healthy.  It isn’t out of the question that Reyes will emerge at some point in the 2020 season as a hard-throwing relief option.