Blue Jays: Teoscar Hernandez tests positive for Covid-19

The Blue Jays made an unfortunate announcement ahead of their game on Tuesday night, as Teoscar Hernandez has tested positive for Covid-19.

As many of us were tuned into Blue Jays Central ahead of the matchup with the Yankees, the news broke from Charlie Montoyo that the outfielder has tested positive and will obviously remain out for a minimum of 10 days.

Hernandez hasn’t played since April 8th as he was originally identified as a close contact to another positive Covid case. Fortunately that individual was someone from outside the Blue Jays’ organization, and hopefully Hernandez’s case will be an isolated one for the rest of the roster, coaching staff, and everyone involved with the team.

The Blue Jays have also been without their star free agent signing in George Springer, who has been dealing with a pair of injuries that have kept him out so far this year. He won’t accompany the team on their next road trip either, so it sounds like he’ll be a while yet.

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In their absence the Blue Jays have turned to Randal Grichuk as a full-time outfielder, and also to Josh Palacios and Jonathan Davis. So far Grichuk has been one of the best players on the roster and Palacios has left a great first regular season impression, which has helped absorb the blow of missing some valuable hitters from the lineup. Still, it’s pretty tough to replace a 3-time All-Star, and now a Silver Slugger winner from a year ago.

Hernandez has gotten off to a bit of a rough start to the year as he was only hitting .207/.207/.310 with one home run and two RBI over his first 29 at-bats. The delay in being able to return certainly won’t help his cause, and that’s in a best case scenario. Here’s hoping his case is a mild one and that he stays relatively healthy as he recovers. His health is the most important thing after all.

It certainly wasn’t the news that any of us wanted to hear, but hopefully Hernandez will be an isolated case for the Blue Jays, and a mild one at that.