From The Athletic:
Delino DeShields Jr. details his bout with COVID-19 and his return to action
By Zack Meisel Jul 14, 2020 3
CLEVELAND — The Indians acquired Delino DeShields Jr. in mid-December in the Corey Kluber deal, a trade that blindsided the veteran outfielder. Early this spring, he joined his new organization, started to familiarize himself with his new teammates, new coaches and new surroundings … and then spring training came to a screeching halt.
DeShields, 27, hung around the team’s facility in Goodyear, Ariz., as players waited for the green light from the league. But as the sport resumed, DeShields was stuck at home, waiting out his own duel with COVID-19. DeShields has recovered and joined the Indians in Cleveland last week. On Tuesday, he spoke to reporters for the first time since returning to town.
What was the first thing that went through your mind when you found out you had COVID-19?
I guess (I was) bummed out a little bit. My only symptoms were that I lost my taste and my smell. I knew I had it. But when I wasn’t able to do any baseball activities or continue training like I had been, I wasn’t too happy about that because I felt like I was getting held back a week or two and it ended up being, like, three weeks. That was the biggest thing. I was more disappointed that all the work I was putting in had to just come to a stop.
Do you know how you contracted it?
I have no idea. I was doing the things I was supposed to do to stay away from people. I was with my family. Once all that stuff in Florida, in Clearwater, happened with (Phillies players testing positive), MLB made everybody get tested who was working out at spring training places. That was really the only reason why I got tested. I was doing everything I was supposed to do. We were doing a good job in Goodyear of keeping our distance and making sure we were cleaning up after ourselves. So, honestly, I have no idea. It was just one of those things, kind of like injuries. You don’t really know who around you has it, what services have it. You just have to do the best you can to prevent it.
When you had it and couldn’t take part in baseball activities, were you going stir crazy? How did you pass the time?
I was spending time with my daughter. I was with my family when I got it. So that was the only benefit of it. But other than that, I was losing my mind a little bit. When I tested positive for it, five or six days later, MLB announced that we were starting up and guys were leaving in two or three days, and I had to stay. I tried to get tested right away to see if it would come back negative, but it came back positive again, so I had to stay. Then the Fourth of July happened and I didn’t get that test (result) back for, like, a whole week. So it was a really long process, but I tried to do the best I could. I watched a lot of TV shows during quarantine.
Are you a cautionary tale for your teammates since you took the necessary precautions but still contracted the virus?
Yeah, I’ve been pretty open with them about it. I’m not really interacting with a lot of guys like I usually would, but I feel like as a group, everybody’s doing a pretty good job of practicing social distancing and making sure we’re using (hand) sanitizer, doing those little things to keep everybody safe. A lot of guys have families that are here. As a group, we just want to do the best we can to make sure everybody’s healthy and that we can have a successful season. If everybody’s healthy, good things happen. I think everybody’s taking it seriously.
Are you surprised this has become such a polarizing topic?
Yeah. People have their own opinions. You see it with the media, when people get mad or upset if people hold them accountable. People’s lives are on the line. It is a big deal. Luckily for me, I had minor symptoms, but there are a lot of people out there losing their lives because of this. It’s something that should be taken seriously.
Did you have to get tested again when you arrived in Cleveland last week?
Yeah, so I came here and did my intake screening, and then I went and did a nasal swab, too. I want to say one of those came back negative and the other came back positive. So the trainers sent my report and how I’ve been feeling to MLB and the PA, and they were pretty much like, “Well if he’s not having any symptoms,” it’s been 21 days since I tested positive, so it was probably a little bit before that when I started having symptoms, so around 23-24 days. At that point, it’s not contagious, so they allowed me to come back. I was being very conscious of how I was carrying myself around the clubhouse and on the field to make sure I was good. I got tested again the other day and it came back negative, so I don’t really know how to explain the positive/negative type of thing. I feel like once you have it, you’re gonna have like little strands of it just kind of hanging around, and it can come up positive and you could be feeling perfectly fine. I don’t really know how to explain it.
You’ve been vocal about the racial tensions in America. Now that you’re back, what are your plans for speaking out?
I’m just going to continue to use my platform and educate people as much as I can. Throughout the season, Easton sponsors me, Easton Baseball, and we collaborated on some batting gloves and some wrist bands that I can wear to show my support. And, obviously, I support it because, for one, I’m Black. I just think it’s important to get that message out there and continue to speak up. I think the main thing is just to continue to try to educate people as much as I can and being open and honest about my experiences. I think it gives people a different perspective when you’re open and you become a little vulnerable about things that you’ve been through in your life. And it makes it more real. A lot of you guys probably haven’t experienced anything like that before, so I think it just kind of gives people a different understanding, gives you a different point of view and, hopefully, that can give you a little more understanding of the issues going on in America.
Have you been surprised by how teammates or the league have embraced you?
Me, personally? No. I feel like I have a lot of people in the baseball world that care about me. So, it’s been nice to have people reach out to me. We have this thing called the Players’ Alliance, which is pretty much a lot of us African-American baseball players, and it’s just a platform for us to get together and talk about our messages and how we want to send them out and give them to you guys. That’s something that I’ve been heavily involved with. I’ve appreciated the organization standing behind me with everything, and we’ve had plenty of talks after being shut down about everything that’s going on. So, the sport has been great. I’m very grateful and appreciative for that, and I just hope that it continues past this year. I know baseball is starting up and (we) kind of set it down to the side and forget about it, but my hope is that the conversation continues to happen throughout the season and following for years to come.
(Rick Scuteri / USA Today)
What can you physically do now?
I’ve been doing light workouts so far, throwing, hitting in the cage. My main thing is making sure that my legs and my arm are good. Those are two things I kind of have problems with early in spring training. I did my EKG and my echo test for my heart that Major League Baseball has required if you test positive. I did that today, and everything was good. So I think I’m going to be allowed to do more as the days start to come up. I guess we’ll just see tomorrow what happens. But I feel good physically. I haven’t had any issues so far, so I just hope I can keep pushing myself and stay healthy at the same time and get ready for — I’m hoping for the beginning of the season, and if not, hopefully soon after.
What’s life like when you can’t taste or smell? Did you eat foods you normally wouldn’t, just because you could?
Yeah, if there are foods that you don’t like that are good for you, you can crush it. But honestly, it sucked. I didn’t have an appetite. Usually, if you smell something that’s good, you want it, you know what I’m saying? I couldn’t smell anything. It was a really strange experience. So I think that part was probably the toughest, to force the stuff down my mouth and knowing that I have to eat. I think that was probably the strangest part. It wasn’t fun at all. I know there are some people out there that haven’t gotten their senses back after a certain amount of time. I have, so I’m fortunate and grateful for that. But during that week, week and a half, it was pretty brutal.
Are you worried about any long-term effects of the virus?
I’m not too worried about it. I think for everybody, we just have to be completely honest with how we feel. If you wake up and you’re not feeling great, it could be nothing, but just let somebody know so that we can go through the right protocols to make sure that you are safe enough to come into the ballpark. So, I don’t know if once you have it you’re all of a sudden immune to it. I have no idea how that works. But I think for everybody in general, (you should) be completely honest with how you’re feeling and (in) talking to the trainers, the doctors. And, like I said, we’ve been doing a good job of cleaning and sanitizing and keeping our distance. And outside of the ballpark, doing the same thing. This is probably the safest place we can be. I feel like we have everything. We have masks available, hand sanitizers are everywhere. The training staff and the clubhouse staff are doing a great job making sure everything is clean. Being outside of the ballpark is probably the toughest thing, making sure if we’re going places, you’re doing what you’re supposed to do to make sure you don’t come down with this thing.
Do you think you’ll be ready for the season opener?
I’m hoping, but I’m not going to rush. If I don’t feel like I’m physically ready to start playing games, I’m not going to rush it. If I don’t feel like I’m going to be able to help a team right away, I’m not going to be playing just selfishly because I want to play. I think this is bigger than me. I want to take my time with it. I’ve talked to the staff here and (Terry Francona). We’re all on the same page about wanting to take things slow and being 100 percent ready to go. I don’t want to slow anybody down. I’m going to push myself as hard as I can, but I’m also going to be completely honest with where I’m at every single day and then just kind of go from there.
Were you worried about spreading the virus to your family?
We talked about it. Shortly after, there were people in my house that were having symptoms, too. At that point, we just decided that we all had it. That was kind of that conclusion. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my family before leaving for the season. We had a long discussion about it and came to the conclusion that we might as well just be together if we all have it.
Is everybody else OK now?
Yeah. Everybody’s healthy now.
What has it been like to join a new organization and having spring training cut in half, going home for three months and then missing the first week of camp?
It’s frustrating. Baseball is something that I look forward to every offseason. Then being traded and coming to this organization as a brand new organization. I’m still learning about a lot of the guys. It’s one of those things where you come into a situation and things are getting comfortable — and then it stops. Then it gets started back up again, and you’re not able to be a part of it. It sucks, but at the end of the day, we’re here to play baseball and I want to do what I can to help this organization win and I feel like the guys here have done a good job of making me feel comfortable. They’ve all played with each other. I’m kind of like the new kid on the block. They’ve been doing a really good job of making me feel at home. It honestly hasn’t been that hard of a transition. It’s just been frustrating because I want to spend time with these guys and I want to get on the field with them.
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