MLB Pirates team president tests positive for COVID-19

PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 07: The PNC Park scoreboard is shown with an updated Pittsburgh Pirates logo encouraging the wearing of masks during summer workouts at PNC Park on July 7, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Justin Berl/Getty Images/AFP

Pittsburgh Pirates team president Travis Williams has tested positive for COVID-19, the Major League Baseball club announced Thursday.

Williams said no other members of the organization had tested positive for the virus, which delayed the start of the MLB 2020 campaign until last month and shrank the season from 162 games per team to 60.

“I have recently tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling the onset of symptoms on Monday evening,” Williams said in a statement.

“Fortunately, however, I followed the critical health and safety protocols that we have put in place, including wearing a mask as required, maintaining safe social distance and, upon the onset of symptoms, immediately isolating myself and getting tested which has prevented further impact to others.

“We have also conducted a thorough contact tracing procedure to identify anyone who I may have possibly been in contact with, which does not include any of our players, members of our coaching staff, or our baseball operations support staff as the team had been on the road.”

Williams took the job with the Pirates last October. He had served as an attorney for the team before joining the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins, becoming their chief operating officer in 2011. He departed to become president of business operations for the NHL New York Islanders in 2018 before taking his current post last year.

“I am on the road to recovery,” said Williams. “In the meantime, I wanted to use my diagnosis as another reminder that we are all susceptible… We all must do our part to get through this pandemic together.”

The Pirates have the worst record in MLB at 4-16.