(royals/ap) Right-hander Brad Keller was cleared to return to the Kansas City Royals’ Summer Camp on Friday after producing two negative tests for COVID-19 at least 24 hours apart.
Keller’s return could be a huge boost as manager Mike Matheny and the Royals scramble to piece together a rotation with Opening Day next Friday. Right now, Kansas City is looking at Danny Duffy, Jakob Junis and Mike Montgomery to start the season-opening three-game series at Cleveland.
Royals Manager Mike Matheney says they want to give everyone a chance to compete for spot in the rotation.
The Royals also announced that catcher Nick Dini and left-hander Daniel Tillo, their No. 20 prospect per MLB Pipeline, have tested positive for COVID-19.
Major League Baseball released its latest COVID-19 testing report on Friday, and after a rocky beginning that saw delayed testing and results, there are reasons to be encouraged. MLB carried out a lot of tests, and just a handful of players tested positive over the past week.
In a press release, MLB revealed it had collected 10,548 samples from players and staff, and that six of those samples tested positive for COVID-19 (0.05 percent). Five were players, and one was a staff member. There was also a five-day stretch over the past week during which no new positives were recorded.
Since the start of intake testing on June 27, MLB has collected 21,701 total samples. 93 of those have tested positive for COVID-19, which is a 0.4 percent positivity rate. 80 are players, and 13 are staff members.
