Fort Report: Coronavirus halts play

Opening Day will be delayed this season, as the coronavirus has forced baseball to shut down. We will continue to try and provide a distraction with Red Sox minor league coverage.

• Check out the 175th episode of the SoxProspects.com podcast, where Chris and Ian discuss the unfortunate cancellation of their trip to Fort Myers. Prior to the decision to cancel, they discussed some things they were looking forward to seeing in camp. They also give their thoughts on roster cuts and the active roster. 
• Red Sox minor leaguers were originally given the option to stay in camp or go home, but now they have been encouraged to go home. By the looks of it, a lot of players have opted to go home.
• On a conference call on Friday, Chaim Bloom discussed the difficulty of getting pitchers ready again for whenever the season ends up starting. 
• He also discussed preparing for the draft. How the team goes about that will depend on what happens with college and prep teams. 
• The Associated Press wrote an article about how minor league players have been sent scrambling. 
• The Salem Red Sox have announced a broadcaster for the 2020 season. Greg Wong will be the team's new Broadcasting and Media Relations Manager for this upcoming season. Wong has four years of experience in Minor League Baseball under his belt, working as a Broadcaster for the Sacramento River Cats, as well as the Media Relations and Broadcasting Assistant for the Harrisburg Senators and West Virginia Power. 
• The Sea Dogs have also announced a new broadcaster for 2020. Emma Tiedemann has been named the new "Voice of the Sea Dogs." She replaces Mike Antonellis, who will take over as the PawSox broadcaster in 2020 after 15 years with Portland. Tiedemann spent the past two seasons as the Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the Lexington Legends. In 2019, she received an award for being named the South Atlantic League Media Relations Director of the Year. 
• Check out the SoxProspects.com Twitter page as a distraction, as we continue the #SP60. Gilberto Jimenez, who had a breakout 2019 season, checked in at number five on the countdown.

Photo Credit: Gilberto Jimenez by Kelly O'Connor

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