Brewers\' Luis Urías, Angel Perdomo test positive for COVID-19 | Sports

Brewers photo — MORRY GASH, ASSOCIATED PRESS

TownNews.com Content Exchange

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers reported no positive results from the intake COVID-19 testing prior to Saturday’s start of summer camp at Miller Park, but the team announced Monday that two players were positive in earlier tests.

Infielder Luis Urías and left-handed pitcher Angel Perdomo are isolating away from the team. They gave the team permission to publicly announce their positive tests, manager Craig Counsell said Monday in a video conference with reporters.

Both players are asymptomatic and are expected to return to the team at some time during camp.

“We’ll see them in camp,” Counsell said. “And they’ll both contribute to our major league roster this year.”

MLB’s protocol for players with COVID-19 require two negative tests before they can return.

Some teams have had to delay the start of their camps due to problems or delays with intake testing. But the Brewers’ process was without issue, according to Counsell.

Left-hander Brent Suter agreed with Counsell’s assessment.

“It’s been pretty easy so far,” Suter, the Brewers’ union representative, said Monday. “We’ve had three saliva tests and we got the results from the first and second round back in time. From the Brewers’ end, those things have gone seamlessly but from an industry standpoint, if we can get those things ironed out I’m confident that we can get this thing done.”

Suter spent much of the hiatus talking with his teammates about their concerns and relaying them to the union as part of the negotiating process to get baseball back on the field this season.

When he agreed to the role at the start of the season, he was hoping to ease into it ahead of next year’s CBA negotiations. But when the pandemic hit, his responsibilities grew quickly but it was a process Suter said he enjoyed.

“It was definitely a good learning experience for me, personally,” Suter said. “And it was really interesting to get all my teammates’ thoughts and then try to communicate them on our calls to find the best way to make sure our team’s voices were being heard.”

Bad luck continues for Urías

From a baseball standpoint, the positive test is another bit of misfortune for Urías.

The centerpiece of a November trade that sent Zach Davies and Trent Grisham to the Padres, Urías was expected to challenge Orlando Arcia for the starting job at shortstop. Instead, the highly-touted 23-year-old spent most of spring training sidelined after suffering a fractured wrist while playing winter ball.

While he recovered from surgery to repair the injury, Arcia took advantage of the situation and put up some impressive numbers in Cactus League play. In 11 games, he hit .296 with five home runs, 12 RBIs and a 1.236 OPS while striking out just twice in 29 plate appearances.

Expanded rosters to start the new season would have made it possible for the Brewers to open the year with both players in the fold but Urías will again have to play catch-up.

“He hasn’t had the best fortune, for sure, but these are only temporary setbacks and that’s how he has to approach them,” Counsell said. “As soon as he’s back to 100% healthy and he gets some time on the field, his talents will shine.”

Burnes ready to get going

Right-hander Corbin Burnes reported to spring training with the hopes of erasing the memory of a nightmarish 2019 season and was off to a good start, allowing just two earned runs over 7⅓ innings before the shutdown.

Because he makes his offseason home in the Phoenix area, Burnes was able to stay on track during the hiatus by getting work in there at the Brewers’ facility and reported to summer camp in a “good spot,” Counsell said.

“The guys who were in Phoenix (during the shutdown) were a little bit more fortunate because they had access to more than some of the other guys who didn’t have Phoenix homes,” Counsell said. “His season got delayed by three monthsm but I don’t think anything is different as far as how he’s throwing the ball.”

Because pitchers had varying types of access since leaving camp in March, Counsell knew his staff would arrive in Milwaukee at different levels of preparedness. Having expanded rosters to open the season will help ease pitchers in to form, especially after an abbreviated preseason.

“I think they’ll all kind of get closer by the time we get to the end, but they are in different spots right now and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Counsell said. “It’s very workable and they’re already to go out there multiple times and face hitters in a scrimmage or in an inter-squad game.

“I’m comfortable where we’re at and I think our pitching will be in good shape to start the season.”

Upcoming schedule

The Brewers will begin playing a series of intra-squad scrimmages on Wednesday. The first few contests will run about five innings and be a combination of straight and situational play.

“The first five games we’ll play will be more controlled,” Counsell said. “Then we’ll try to play some more competitive games at the end, more straight games without modifications.”

Bad luck continues for Jimmy Nelson.

The former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher will undergo season-ending surgery on his lower back Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Nelson to a one-year $1.25 million contract in January, an incentive-laden deal that could be worth $13.25 million over two seasons. He has a $750,000 salary this year, and the Dodgers have a $2 million option for 2021 with a $500,000 buyout.

Nelson hasn’t been able to stay healthy since his breakout season in 2017, when he had a 12-6 record, 3.49 ERA and 27.3 percent strikeout rate before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

That serious injury and subsequent surgery kept him out for all of 2018 and a portion of 2019 as well, with elbow issues also limiting him to just 22 innings.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the back trouble was a lingering issue for much of this past spring and the team never quite managed to get him healthy.