Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings has concerns about coronavirus risks behind the plate - TribLIVE

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Jacob Stallings was reminded a few weeks ago that, as the catcher, he will be in close quarters with the umpire standing over his shoulder and every opposing hitter who comes to the batter’s box, in addition to his own Pittsburgh Pirates teammates every baseball game he plays amid the covid-19 pandemic.

“And they asked how I felt about that, and I said, ‘Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but thank you for bringing it to my attention,’” Stallings deadpanned Sunday on a Zoom conference call from PNC Park. “But, yes, (I’m) definitely more aware. I like to talk to the opposing hitters – not in-depth conversations, but just, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ and that sort of thing. I’ll probably keep my distance a little more this year. You just don’t know. It’s just such a complex situation.”

Good thing he’s used to wearing a mask.

The impossibility of safe social distancing while crouching behind the plate isn’t lost on Stallings, so the Pirates catcher is learning how to navigate the complexities of the coronavirus crisis in training camp instead of worrying about whether he can ask an umpire to back off.

“I think it’ll be similar. I think it’ll have to be. I don’t know how much you could change it,” Stallings said. “I don’t know how far they can get away and still be able to call the game. But I just don’t know, to be honest.”

So, Stallings is concentrating on things that are within his control, especially his ability to effectively communicate with pitchers and coaches alike. He spent the offseason building on his strengths, like framing pitches low and on the edges, while working on what he perceived to be a weakness, throws at the top of the strike zone.

“I would say those are the two main things from a receiving standpoint, just continuing to hone in and improve on what I got better at last year and now diving in deeper into the top of the zone because guys are throwing a lot more at the top of the zone than they ever have,” Stallings said. “It’s becoming an important pitch.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton found Stallings’ “professionalism” stood out from the start, the way the backstop was able to take a game plan and implement it with pitchers both before and during games. What Shelton didn’t get a full appreciation for in spring training was Stallings’ receiving ability, at least until the quarantine downtime.

“So I started watching games, and it’s one of the things that really stood out to me,” Shelton said, “how well of a job he handles pitchers behind the plate, how comfortable he is and definitely how soft he is, how well he receives.”

What remains to be seen is how well the Pirates’ revelation that two players consented to being identified as testing positive for covid-19, outfielder Socrates Brito and relief pitcher Blake Cederlind, will be received by their teammates. Players have publicly expressed how they are prioritizing staying healthy, for the sake of both their team and their families, especially after more than three dozen MLB players have tested positive this past week.

Stallings knows he took a calculated risk by bringing his wife and two young children from a controlled enviroment in Nashville, where he lives in the offseason, to Pittsburgh for the start of spring training. And he also realizes that he will continue to take a risk every inning he squats behind the plate.

“Coming here, I’ve tried to be a lot more careful than what I was at home even, just because if I get it then it affects my teammates, and I don’t want those guys to get sick,” Stallings said. “I don’t want to take it home with me so that my family might get sick. So going to the catcher, umpire, I’m sure they have the same feelings as us, and a lot of the umpires are elderly, and so that just brings another factor into it.

“I’m going to be careful on my end, because I don’t want to get them sick, and I feel as much responsibility in that sense as I don’t want to get sick myself, if that makes sense. I don’t want to get sick, because I don’t want to take it home and I don’t want to have to miss two weeks, but it’s also more so I don’t want to get sick so that I don’t get other people sick.”

That’s the kind of thinking that can add undue stress to an already stressful position. As a former minor-league catcher, Shelton can relate. As a major-league manager, he knows it’s his job to put Stallings in a position to receive as much attention and education as needed to succeed.

“I think the anxiety and awareness is real for everybody,” Shelton said. “But I feel comfortable with the testing protocol we put in place and what Major League Baseball has put in place that our guys are going to be in a good spot. The one thing we’re encouraging all of our guys is, if they do feel a situation where they have some anxiety or lack of awareness that it’s our job to continue to educate them and talk to them about it.

“It’s something that we’re extremely mindful of every day. We’re going through something that nobody is going through. We’re going through a testing process that nobody has gone through. It’s a real thing. We know that the virus is prevalent. People are going to be tested positive, so I think we just have to talk to our guys and make sure they’re comfortable.”

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports