Andrelton Simmons tests positive for COVID-19

Despite the advances made in the past year to keep the populace safe during a pandemic while still attempting to return to some form of normalcy, the novel coronavirus is still a present threat.

The Minnesota Twins received a reminder of that today, as shortstop Andrelton Simmons was placed on the COVID Injured List after a positive test:

Fortunately, the rest of the team appears to be in safe health, and the team is running contact tracing to ensure that the case is isolated.

Simmons stated on his Twitter account at the end of March that he would not be taking the vaccine or promoting it:

Unfortunately, that decision appears to have come with severe consequences.

On the field, the Twins will be without their starting shortstop and a hot bat. Off it, Simmons’ future health, as seen by the examples of Eduardo Rodriguez and Jayson Tatum, may be in jeopardy.

To fill Simmons’ spot, the Twins have added J.T. Riddle (No. 15 in your program) to the active roster from the taxi squad. They have also brought up Alex Kirilloff as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader.

Let us hope that Simmons can return to health soon, for his body’s sake more so than for baseball’s.