According to TMZ on Wednesday, we now know the identities of the three players for the Colorado Rockies that have coronavirus. They are four-time all-star Charlie Blackmon of Dallas, Texas, relief pitcher Phillip Diehl of Cincinnati, Ohio, and starting pitcher Ryan Castellani of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Of the three, the big name is obviously Blackmon, who is one of the best hitters in all of baseball.
In 2019, Blackmon batted .314 with 32 home runs and 86 runs batted in. In 140 games, he scored 112 runs, and collected 182 hits, 42 doubles, seven triples, two stolen bases, 40 walks, a .364 on base percentage, .576 slugging percentage, 334 total bases, and five sacrifice flies.
Blackmon’s finest Major League Baseball season came in 2017 when he led the Major Leagues with 137 runs, 213 hits, 14 triples, and 387 total bases. He also led the National League with a .331 batting average. In 2018, he led the National League in runs scored for the second straight year as he had 119.
Also on Wednesday, Major League Baseball announced its plans to return. However, due to the fact a high number of Major League Baseball players have coronavirus at this time, and the fact that the pandemic has hammered many American states, there cannot be a guarantee that there will actually be a season. At this time, all teams are expected to play 60 games, and there will be no change to the playoff format.
There will be some intriguing implementations however in Major League Baseball for the 2020 season. Check out five of these very interesting rule changes later this week on www.headless.thesportingbase.com.
