Joey Votto placed on IL after self-reporting COVID-19 symptoms

Another big name has been added to the COVID-19 watch list, as Joey Votto has reported symptoms

Even baseball’s best are not immune during a pandemic. After outbreaks in St. Louis, Miami and Philadelphia (although falsely), the Cincinnati Reds have a scare of their own, with slugger Joey Votto reporting symptoms on Sunday. As a precaution, Votto has been placed on the injured list, and will be tested for COVID-19. The Reds slugger had been hitting .259 with two home runs on the young season.

Should Votto test positive, he’ll need to quarantine and test negative on two separate occasions before he can rejoin the club, per MLB rules. Such precautions have just become the norm in baseball.

Votto’s symptoms are the continuation of a bad week for baseball

Of course, there’s no telling at this moment if Votto has coronavirus, but should he test positive it could lead to panic in he clubhouse, especially given the events which transpired in Miami and St. Louis this past week. The Cardinals had six members of their organization test positive for the virus, while the Marlins had at least 19 victims. Unconfirmed reports suggest that some players haven’t been following MLB protocol, with the Marlins allegedly attending a club in Atlanta, and the Cardinals reportedly going to a casino on the road.

For Votto, it was imperative that he get ahead of things by self-reporting his symptoms to the Reds. This allows the team to prepare for the worst-case scenario, and also replace Votto’s services on the roster with another MLB-caliber player, which in this case is Anthony DeSclafani.