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Atlanta Braves news: injuries highlight hidden COVID-19 impact on the road

By Fred Owens

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. injured himself on a slide like this Sunday night. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. injured himself on a slide like this Sunday night. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte pulled a hamstring had had to go on the 10-day IL. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

The Atlanta Braves taxi squad contains players no one expected on the roster, a direct result of travel restrictions due to COVID-19 protocols.

The Atlanta Braves M.A.S.H unit grew quickly during the series with the Cubs. Drew Smyly forearm before the series), Ender Inciarte (hamstring), Ozzie Albies (calf), Sean Newcomb (COVID contact protocols), and Sunday night Ronald Acuña Jr.

In a normal season, the club would have called Gwinnett and summoned replacements via the next available commercial flight. The players called would have played a handful of AAA games and be as ready as possible at this time of year. However, this isn’t a normal season.

In February, MLB and the MLBPA agreed (yes, I know that sounds like fiction, but it’s true) a list of protocols to govern health and safety specifically targeted at preventing the spread of COVID-19. The protocols included a long list of do’s and don’ts, but a few of them create roster problems for the front office.

  • A Covered Individual who has been identified as having been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID will be subject to a mandatory quarantine of seven days and must test negative on day 5 or later, among other requirements to rejoin Club facilities.
    • Newcomb’s trip to the IL falls under this rule.
  • The Active Roster limit will revert to 26 (expanding to 28 in September), but the limit on the number of pitchers on the Active Roster at any given time has been waived for this season.
    • This allows the team to have more than 13 pitchers
  • Clubs that experience a COVID-19 outbreak among their players (may) add to the Major League Active List temporarily, without the need for those players to be placed on waivers, outrighted, or optioned in order to be removed from the 40-man roster when players return from the COVID-19 Related Injured List.
    • This allowed Jesse Biddle and Sean Kazmar to join the team without changing the 40-man roster.
  • A Club is permitted to carry up to five additional Taxi Squad players on all road trips . . .  at least one must be a . . . catcher. Players on the Taxi Squad are permitted to workout with the Major League Club but are not permitted to be in uniform and in the dugout during games. Upon the conclusion of each road trip, players on the Taxi Squad will return to the Alternate Training Site.
    • This rule is why we saw Heredia, Kazmar, and Biddle, instead of players actually on the roster from the alternate site.
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