Three baseball players opt out of season because of coronavirus

When baseball season begins, it will be without some prominent players.

Arizona pitcher Mike Leake on Monday became the first player to opt out of the 2020 season because of concerns about the coronavirus, and two other players, Washington veteran infielder Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Ross, later joined him.

Leake, 32, started 10 games for Arizona after being traded by Seattle in a 2019 deadline deal. Leake went 3-3 with a 4.35 ERA with Arizona and won his first AL Gold Glove Award for his time with the Mariners. He was expected to compete for a spot in the Diamondbacks' starting rotation during the 60-game season.

"It definitely impacts us," Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen said. "Certainly, he's a good major league starting pitcher. To what extent it's going to impact us, it's hard to say. I think I would probably have a different answer if it was over 162 as opposed to if it was over 60."

Major League Baseball is allowing players with pre-existing medical conditions or compromised immune systems to opt out of the 2020 season, but Hazen would not say whether Leake falls under that category.

The Nationals now must try to defend their World Series title without Zimmerman, one of the faces of the franchise. He's 35 and has been a fixture for the Nationals since 2005.

Zimmerman said his family situation factored into not playing. His mother is at high risk for complications from the coronavirus. He also has three young children, including a newborn.

Dan Hughes will not coach the Seattle Storm during the 2020 WNBA season in Florida over concerns about his risk if he were to contract COVID-19.

Hughes, 65, had surgery last year to remove a cancerous tumor from his digestive tract. He missed nine games while recovering.

Seattle promoted Gary Kloppenburg to head coach for the season. Kloppenburg served as the interim coach last season while Hughes was out.

Harris English became the fifth PGA Tour player to test positive for the coronavirus.

The positive test for English was part of the screening process at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. English did not play last week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn.

• The NHL said 26 players have reported testing positive for the coronavirus since voluntary workouts began June 8. Monday's update included four additional cases among those tested at team facilities, to go along with the 11 announced June 19. The league said it's aware of 11 other players testing positive outside the voluntary workout protocol.

• Major League Soccer said that as of Sunday night 329 players and staff had been tested in Orlando, where teams are gathering for the "MLS is Back" tournament, and two were positive.

Before teams traveled to Orlando, 18 players and six staffers had tested positive since full training began the first week of June.

Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie says he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dinwiddie told The Athletic he is experiencing symptoms and it is unclear if he can play when the NBA season resumes.

Dinwiddie says he tested negative for the virus multiple times after returning to New York and took part in a couple practices. But he has since tested positive and says he has a fever and chest soreness.

He is at least the fifth Nets player to test positive. The previous four were in March, with Kevin Durant saying he was among them.

Dinwiddie is averaging 20.6 points for the Nets, who have a half-game lead over Orlando for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They are set to face the Magic on July 31 in their first game back.

Wire News: BBN-GIANTS-BISHOP-CORONAVIR

BC-BBN-GIANTS-BISHOP-CORONAVIRUS:SA - sports (300 words),0345Giants' outfield prospect Hunter Bishop tests positive for COVID-19(PHOTO)

By Kerry Crowley

The Sacramento Bee (TNS)

Giants outfield prospect and Bay Area native Hunter Bishop was expected to report to Oracle Park for workouts this week, but those plans have been put on hold.

The Giants announced Monday that Bishop has tested positive for COVID-19.

Giants' president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Bishop tested positive in Arizona on Friday and that his symptoms are mild. Manager Gabe Kapler added that Bishop is recovering well and will continue to quarantine.

Bishop, a product of Serra High (San Mateo), is the organization's fourth-ranked prospect according to MLB.com and was selected by the Giants with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft.

The power-hitting center fielder isn't expected to make his major league debut this year, but Zaidi said Monday the team initially planned to have Bishop in San Francisco to train with the Giants' player pool ahead of the planned start of the 2020 season.

Bishop played in a handful of exhibitions for the Giants during Cactus League play including one against his older brother, Braden, a former St. Francis High (Mountain View) star who debuted with the Seattle Mariners last season.

When Bishop is healthy and has tested negative for COVID-19 twice, he's expected to report to San Francisco, where he'll participate in workouts with the Giants' three other top prospects: catcher Joey Bart, shortstop Marco Luciano and outfielder Heliot Ramos.

The Giants expect to send some members of their player pool to West Sacramento to work out at the Triple-A River Cats' complex in July, and it's likely Bishop will be part of that crew.

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PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): Hunter Bishop

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