A SEASON LIKE NO OTHER
Yankee minor leaguer’s journey from the field, to his cousin’s basement, to who knows where?
TAMPA — On Thursday, Matt Minnick came out of his cousin’s basement where he had been voluntarily self quarantining for the previous 14 days a newly freed man in a way. After the first of two minor-league players in the organization tested positive for the coronavirus, the Yankees’ 2019 draft pick had limited himself to a short drive every morning to the team’s minor-league complex to pick up food and the daily per diem provided by the team.
After having had no symptoms of COVID-19, the lefthanded pitcher thought he could go wherever he wanted, do what he wanted on Thursday afternoon.
In those 14 days, however, the global coronavirus pandemic had changed much of the world. The threat of an outbreak had shut down all of baseball and most of the country. The minor-league complex was still closed by the Florida Department of Health, so he and the other minor leaguers could not work out there. Gyms and fitness facilities in Florida were closed, his native New York was also closing facilities.
“In a lot of ways, it was like being in quarantine, I just had to come up with some compromises and ways to keep the momentum I had built up,” Minnick said by phone from Indiana. “I drove up to my girlfriend’s. I can do the same workouts here that I did in quarantine.
“But the minute they open Florida back up and I can workout at the facility, I am going to hop into my car and drive down there.”
This is not exactly how Minnick imagined his first spring training in the Yankee organization when he signed last June, but finding ways to keep playing through adversity is not new to Minnick.
He is a native of Collins, New York a small town in the Buffalo area, a place more common with producing hockey players than baseball players. Minnick went on to be an ace at Division II Mercyhurst University, in not-so summery Erie, Pa. The Yankees drafted him in the 23rd round a year after he had Tommy John surgery.
After appearing in nine games for the rookie league Gulf Coast Yankees last year, Minnick had stayed in Tampa, working nights at his cousin’s restaurant through the winter, and getting some extra work at the Yankees’ facility under their new director of pitching Sam Briend. He had learned a lot from the former Driveline pitching consultant this winter and was excited to compete with the Yankees’ other pitching prospects this spring. On March 12, that all ended. After the NBA suddenly shut down its season on the news that a player had tested positive for the coronavirus, MLB followed suit about 12 hours later. While the Yankees’ major-league players were allowed into the facility, they had told their minor leaguers not to report to the separate minorleague complex. Minnick was at his spring training home when he got the news from the Yankees that one of the minorleague players had tested positive.
“It was surreal,” Minnick said. “We knew what was going on in the world, but suddenly we were on a conference call with doctors talking about it,” Minnick said. “I was concerned for the player and his
family. For me, I wasn’t scared, I felt fine. It was just surreal.
“I moved to the room downstairs in the basement and tried to keep my distance from everyone,” Minnick said. “Just in case.”
Minnick said the Yankees treated the minor leaguers well while they were in self quarantine. The team provided housing and per diem allowances through the 14 days. The Yankees added $50 to the per diem as an incentive for the players to stay in self quarantine and provided three meals a day and drinks for every player. For players in the hotels, Yankees executives like GM Brian Cashman went and delivered it. For players like Minnick, who were living on their own, they set-up a makeshift drive through outside the minor-league complex where they could pick up every day.
“The food was really, really good,” Minnick said. “I felt like they really took good care of us. We talked to the doctors and health department (on an organization-wide conference call). They kept us informed and made the best of the situation.”
For Minnick and most players — major leaguers to rookie leaguers — finding ways to work out is the best way they can keep themselves sane in this new age of the pandemic. Being a kid from snowy western New York who played college baseball on the cold bluster edge of Lake Erie, Minnick has always had to find ways to get his baseball work in.
During quarantine, Minnick worked out with the weighted balls, a program that he used from Briend this winter to keep his arm strong and the muscles remembering the proper delivery. He is able to do agility drills and strength training for his core muscles indoors. And he has even managed to figure out throwing on his own.
“I have a net I can throw into when I need to,” Minnick said. “I used it during quarantine and I have it here with me now. I can throw like I am doing long toss to keep my arm (strength) up with that. I can take it with me and it lets me throw wherever I go.”
For Minnick, getting back up on the mound and pitching is not something he is really going to worry about. “With all that is going on in the world, with people getting sick, it’s really not that bad of a problem to have,” Minnick said. “When we get back to baseball, I’ll be ready.”