Washington Nationals left-hander Sean Doolittle plans to play during the upcoming season but said Sunday he would pull out if he felt the situation is taking a toll on his mental health.
Doolittle is taking the wait-and-see approach but the unknowns involving the coronavirus pandemic are weighing on his mind.
“I think I’m planning on playing,” Doolittle told reporters on Sunday during a Zoom call. “But if at any point I start to feel unsafe, if it starts to take a toll on my mental health with all these things we have to worry about and kind of this cloud of uncertainty hanging over everything, then I’ll opt out. But for now, I’ve prepared for the last three months like I’m going to play. I feel ready to go.”
The 33-year-old Doolittle also pointed out the irony of starting the season later this month with the coronavirus outbreak still out of control.
“We’re trying to bring baseball back during a pandemic that’s killed (nearly) 130,000 people (in the United States),” Doolittle said. “We’re way worse off as a country than where we were in March when we shut this thing down.
“And like, look at where other developed countries are in their response to this. We haven’t done any of the things that other countries have done to bring sports back. Sports are like the reward of a functional society, and we’re trying to just bring it back, even though we’ve taken none of the steps to flatten the curve, whatever you want to say.”
In Doolittle’s view, the nation isn’t buying in enough if it wants to put an end to the outbreak.
“We did flatten the curve for a little bit, but we didn’t use that time to do anything productive,” Doolittle said. “We just opened back up for Memorial Day. We decided we’re done with it. Like, if there aren’t sports, it’s gonna be because people are not wearing masks because the response to this has been so politicized.
“We need help from the general public. If they want to watch baseball, please wear a mask, social distance, keep washing your hands. Like, we can’t just have virus fatigue and think, ‘Well, it’s been four months. We’re over it. This has been enough time, right? We’ve waited long enough, shouldn’t sports come back now?'”
Doolittle also has concerns on the health and safety front. He said the Nationals haven’t received personal protection equipment (PPE) like N95 masks and gloves.
He also was tested for COVID-19 on both Friday and Sunday and is still awaiting the test results from Friday. That rates as even more of a concern to Doolittle due to his wife — Eireann Dolan — possessing a chronic lung condition.
“We’ve got to clean that up, right?” Doolittle said. “That’s one thing that makes me a little nervous.”
Washington manager Dave Martinez said Sunday that two Nationals — both of whom are unidentified — tested positive for coronavirus.
Doolittle is entering his ninth big league season. He spent 5 1/2 seasons with the Oakland Athletics before being traded to the Nationals in July 2017.
Doolittle was 6-5 with a 4.05 ERA and a career-best 29 saves last season. He has 111 career saves to go with a 23-21 mark and 3.02 ERA.
Nationals catcher Welington Castillo, right-hander Joe Ross and infielder Ryan Zimmerman are among the MLB players to opt out of playing in the 60-game season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
