Reopening Baseball: Top San Francisco Giants Prospect Hunter Bishop Tests Positive For COVID-19
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- When the San Francisco Giants gather at Oracle Park on Wednesday to begin gearing up for a COVID-19 shortened season, one of the club's top prospects will not be there.
The team has announced that Hunter Bishop, the team's 2019 first-round draft pick, has tested positive for the virus during a round of pre-camp testing in Arizona. He was being left off the team's initial 51-man player pool until he recovers from the virus.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Bishop exhibited "very mild" symptoms and is improving.
Bishop had been expected to report to this week alongside fellow top prospects Joey Bart, Marco Luciano and Heliot Ramos.
The team said the 22-year-old outfielder was not training at the Giants' facilities in Scottsdale and has not come into contact with any other players or staff.
Under baseball's COVID-19 protocol, Bishop will be required to quarantine for two weeks and will not be allowed to return to the Giants until he tests negative twice.
The Giants currently have nine open spots in their player pool, so they could still choose to bring Bishop to training camp once he's healthy and clears all the necessary protocols.
"I talked to Hunter yesterday," manager Gabe Kapler said. "He's in Arizona. He's going to stay there for now and obviously do nothing for the next 14 days. He's in good spirits."
Bishop, who is ranked the club's No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, posted an .827 OPS with four home runs over 25 games at the Giants' Class A Short-Season affiliate in Salem-Keizer last year.