The Indians officially announced Thursday that they will be welcoming fans back into Progressive Field in 2021.

After Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced earlier this week that Major League teams beginning seasons this spring will be able to have up to 30 percent seating capacity, the Indians finalized their plans with the Cleveland Clinic and decided to host the 30 percent capacity for all April home games.

“Regardless of what the announced crowd is, when there's people in that lower bowl, it sounds good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I mean, it feels good. Going from zero to anything was going to be fun, especially for the players. Thirty percent, you know what, man, I think that's pretty awesome. I hope they're able to pull it off safely and people warm up to the idea because we'll really be thrilled if that's the case.”

Franmil stops by to say hi
To abide by COVID-19 protocols, all media access with the Indians is done through Zoom calls. So, every day, Francona logs in from his designated area at the Tribe’s Spring Training complex. The players join Zoom calls from a different room. So, when Franmil Reyes was passing through the players’ Zoom room, he noticed that his skipper was fielding some questions from reporters. That’s when he asked if he could jump in.

No, he didn’t have a question. Reyes, in full uniform with his bat in hand and helmet on his head, just yelled for Tito and threw a peace sign high in the air and said, "Picture day," which meant he was on his way to the Tribe’s scoreboard live entertainment shoot, where they get pictures and videos done for in-game graphics. But he couldn’t do it without giving his manager the update of where he was going.

Injury updates
Aside from Cam Hill, who broke his right wrist in a car accident in November, the Indians didn’t have any other injured players entering camp. However, Francona said that outfielder Jordan Luplow rolled his ankle while taking live batting practice on Wednesday.

“Luplow went last night or late afternoon and got a scan and everything and it came back really good,” Francona said. “We were really pleased. He was able to go out there the majority of the day. … I told Luplow, I had him scheduled to play right field, I think Monday. We may back that up a day or two, just because it’s February, but I think if we were in the season, he would be in the lineup tomorrow.”

Cesar Hernandez fouled a ball off his shin earlier this week and the Indians kept him out of workouts on Tuesday, but he was able to get back to workouts beginning on Wednesday.

Who’s caught Antonetti’s attention?
With more than 70 players working out simultaneously at different parts of the complex, it can be hard for coaches, managers or front office personnel to make judgements in the first few days of camp about who’s been impressing the most. But it was hard for Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti to ignore the work backstop Roberto Pérez put in over the offseason to lose 35 pounds.

“When we started off our individual meeting with him, Tito asked Roberto where was the rest of him," Antonetti said, with a laugh. “He said he left it in Florida, so Roberto is really in a great spot physically and mentally. It’s really important for us because he’s such an instrumental leader on our team, and the responsibility he has, not just to help lead the position player group, but he really leads our pitching staff as well.

“I’ve shared this in the past, our pitchers and pitching coaches and pitching staff get a great deal of credit for the success we’ve had over the past few seasons, but our catching group led by Roberto has been a big part of that success as well, and for us to be the team that we want to be and aspire to be, Roberto is going to need to be a big part of that, and so the way he took advantage of the offseason and the way he enters camp we feel is going to be a great benefit to everyone.”