Anonymous Braves Minor Leaguer Describes Terrible Limbo Players Are Stuck in Due to Coronavirus

From a fan's perspective, the idea that Major League Baseball has halted Spring Training operations across the board and delayed Opening Day for a bare minimum of two weeks feels like a sporting tragedy. Baseball is about as constant in American culture and history as the sunrise, after all. But a look into the sudden chaos that is the life of a minor league player will put any and all of our gripes into perspective in a hurry.

After spring activities were suspended, an anonymous minor league player in the Atlanta Braves organization described what sounds like absolute chaos for those in the lower levels borne out of an utter lack of leadership.

Being sent home with no paycheck? Not being able to get a job due to potentially being called back to camp at any moment? Zero helpful instructions from the office of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred? No support systems to help players avoid the coronavirus threat?

Sadly, this practically sounds like par for the course for minor league players, who constantly have to suffer through inadequate pay and working conditions that might actually qualify as illegal under US labor regulations.

Big league ballplayers might have it tough given that the game itself has been paused in its tracks, but it's clear that the MLB and its franchises have to take concrete steps to ensure the welfare, both physical and financial, of its employees down in the lower levels -- now more than ever.