Click says stadium could reopen soon
Limited individual workouts allowed with symptom checks, other policies
Call it a soft opening. The Astros hope to open Minute Maid Park to players for individual workouts “very soon,” general manager James Click said Thursday.
The organization began exploring the possibility “in the past couple days,” Click said. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized the state to enter Phase 2 of its reopening from the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Included in Abbott’s executive order was the return of gyms and exercise facilities at 25 percent capacity, with showers and locker rooms still closed. Professional sports without fans are free to return May 31.
The Tampa Bay Rays, Click’s former organization, plan to open Tropicana
Field to a limited number of individual workouts on Monday. The Tampa Bay Times reported players will be limited to using the field for playing catch or other cardiovascular exercises. They’ll be initially prohibited from throwing off mounds, hitting in the batting cages, using their clubhouse or going to the weight room.
“Trying to thread that needle of getting them in there, letting them train and letting them work out and, at the same time, maintaining a level of safety that we need to maintain is a tricky balance,” said Click, who outlined a similar list of restrictions Astros players could face upon their return.
Among the stipulations Click mentioned: a staggered system of workouts to not overcrowd the facility, staff wearing personal protective equipment at all times, screening for symptoms for all who want to enter the stadium, a recommendation that players wear batting gloves and prohibiting the sharing of baseballs between teammates.
A few players have been inside Minute Maid Park this week, Click said, but only those who require injury rehabilitation. The organization is still ironing out a plan, along with Major League Baseball, to adopt a uniform policy of procedures and protocols.
Click said the players he’s spoken to have expressed a desire to return to the facility and, once allowed, would do so soon.
“The guys that I’ve talked to have asked about it, and they’d like to get in there,” Click said Thursday. “It’s their home facility. They’re used to it. It has a lot of things that they can’t get access to right now. It’s, again, only been the past couple days that we’ve started to get the green light to open in any way.
“It’s a soft opening, but we’re trying to get it opened.”