ARLINGTON -- The Rangers are experiencing some delays in the COVID-19 intake testing players must go through before they are able to attend workouts, and a number of players have yet to be cleared.
Outfielder Joey Gallo and first baseman Ronald Guzmán are among those who have yet to join the Rangers' official workouts at Globe Life Field.
“Depending upon circumstances, there's obviously the basic testing,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “But there's also some other elements to it, depending on circumstances with the individual. So we have a group of players that were coming in from Latin America that are still in the process.
“We also still have Joey Gallo and Ronald Guzmán that are still in the process. So, hopefully, we'll have information here very soon. But we don't have all the testing back yet, amongst some other things that need to happen before we can address whether they're able to join us here at the facility.”
Reliever Brett Martin is the only player who has been identified as having tested positive for COVID-19. The Rangers will identify players who have tested positive only if the individual grants permission and waives the right to privacy.
All players are required to go through the intake testing process before they are allowed to workout, and that has contributed to the delay in getting the results back. Daniels said he doesn't expect to have the same issues during the season if a player must go through the process again.
“There are times when the process goes smoothly, and it's step one, step two, step three,” Daniels said. “And there are times, because of other things, that it's taking quite a bit longer. But until the player has fully cleared all the process, a lot of which is out of our control, the testing facility and other things involved, it just, the front end is taking longer than I think it will throughout the year. That's my hope anyway. “
Frazier tests turf
Rangers third baseman Todd Frazier was able to test the new artificial turf at Globe Life Field on Saturday and came away with a favorable impression. The surface was installed by Shaw Sports Turf and is supposed to be as close to real grass as technologically possible.
“Yeah, I took my first ground balls yesterday, and it was a lot of fun,” Frazier said Sunday morning. “It's playing pretty smooth. I didn't really get as many as I wanted, but as the days go on, I'll get here earlier, stay after a little longer to see. I'm a guy that goes about detail. I'm very detail-oriented.
“I want to take about 30 or 40 balls and just roll 'em down the line; see how it plays in a bunt situation, or see where the lip is, how many times that ball hits the lip -- is it going to bounce high, or is it just going to glide through? But yeah, it's playing smooth; the surface is great. It's a bigger ballpark than I expected. I heard that it wasn't as big, but you gotta really hit it to get it out, so it's going to be a lot of first-to-third singles and a lot of exciting times, but, yeah, I'm very happy here.”
Rangers beat
• Joe Palumbo allowed a run over 1 2/3 innings in Sunday's intrasquad game. He gave up a single to Shin-Soo Choo and a two-out RBI double to Rougned Odor in the first.
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa was 1-for-2 facing Kyle Gibson in the intrasquad, driving home a run with a double. Kiner-Falefa finished the Cactus League in Arizona with 11 hits in his last 20 at-bats so manager Chris Woodward saw this as a good sign.
“It feels like he never left,” Woodward said. “Taking three months off and then to still maintain that rhythm and timing is pretty impressive. So that tells me a lot of that may be consistent. That's what we're hoping, obviously.”
• Josh Jung, the Rangers' first-round pick from the 2019 MLB Draft, was used at designated hitter on the team facing Gibson. He was 0-for-2 off the righty.