Texas Rangers Star Joey Gallo Tests Positive for COVID-19
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers star slugger Joey Gallo has tested positive for COVID-19, general manager Jon Daniels announced on Monday.
An initial saliva test came back positive on June 29, but a nasal swab on June 30 came back negative. As part of the intake process, Gallo was not allowed to be at Globe Life Field and underwent another saliva test 48 hours later on July 2. The Rangers received the results on July 5 that it was positive.
Gallo is asymptomatic and in good health.
"He feels great. He is isolating at home," Daniels said. "I'm thankful he is not having any health issues related to anything."
Gallo is the second Rangers player known to test positive for COVID-19. LHP Brett Martin also tested positive, which the club announced on Friday. Ronald Guzmán has still not passed intake testing. In a quite perplexing situation, he is allowed to be at Globe Life Field but cannot participate in any workouts or intrasquad games.
There have been a number of issues with tests not being shipped to MLB's testing facility in Salt Lake City or testers not showing up in general. Daniels was at least able to confirm that only Gallo's false negative contributed to the cryptic updates over the past few days.
"We chose to start our intake testing as early as we possibly could," Daniels said. "We were ready to start on the 25th—we had to wait until the 27th—I'm thankful for that. I think Jamie Reed and Matt Lucero and everybody here on our end has done a really good job of facilitating that. So I think because we had a little extra time on the front end, I think that's probably helped."
It has been nine days since Gallo first tested positive. In order for Gallo to return to action, he must have two negative tests spaced 24 hours apart, even if he remains asymptomatic. Despite the obvious blow to the Rangers' lineup, Daniels is optimistic that Gallo will be able to return rather quickly.
"Obviously Joey is one of our best players, from a baseball standpoint, it’s not great," Daniels said. "But it’s also early in the process and if this thing follows the timeline as some of the other asymptomatic cases that we are aware of, he’ll have plenty of time to be ready. I’m hopeful it’s approximately two weeks, the bulk of that time has already passed. If that does hold, he’ll be ready for the season."
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