Gregory Polanco got up from his chair, having just completed a 10 1/2 minute Zoom call interview, his first in about three weeks. Before he left, he offered one last thought to those on the call:
"Wear your masks, please."
It was a fair request, especially since he knows what the alternative is like.
Polanco missed the second half of Pirates summer camp and the first series of the season after he tested positive for COVID-19.
He participated in the first week of Pirates summer camp, meaning he was passing tests. But on July 14, he started experiencing symptoms and went to the team about. Shortly after, they confirmed he had the virus.
How he got it remains a mystery.
"I go from my apartment to here," Polanco said. "I get my food here. I get everything here. I don’t know how I got it."
Polanco was symptomatic, though not for long. The chills lasted a day or two. The sore throat, about four days. He was tired for a bit.
So he was able to beat the virus fairly quickly and cleared Major League Baseball's protocols. By July 24, he was back in PNC Park's weight room, getting ready to return. On July 27, the team's home opener, he was activated off the injured list and put back in the lineup.
But going two weeks between seeing a live pitch messes with a player's timing, especially after missing months of the season due to the pandemic.
"When you take two weeks off, almost two weeks, it's not easy just to come back and play right away," Polanco said. "It takes a little bit of recovering, for workouts and practice. It takes a little bit, but like I said, I feel good now. I'm feeling better and better every day. That's it."
There's an extra level of frustration on top of that for Polanco specifically after missing most of 2019 with a left shoulder injury. He admitted at the end of the season that he rushed back from his surgery, and he spent his winter properly rehabbing it this time.
He went to physical therapy six times a week during the offseason, and went back to the same trainer in Miami during the shutdown. This time, he wasn't just saying his shoulder was stronger, he was showing it too, making throws from right field to third base and home plate, something he previously downplayed his ability to do anymore.
Despite that temptation to actually play, Polanco would stick with reporting his symptoms.
"We have to take care and think about others, because to me, it probably didn't do that much, but probably somebody else, it will effect worse," he said. "It would hit harder. I expect everybody, if somebody feels something, let the team right know right away so you don't infect everybody else."
It was a decision that Derek Shelton was proud of. Polanco added that his teammates and the team thanked him for being safe.
"I cannot speak highly enough about how Gregory went about it," Shelton said on July 17, the day Polanco consented to share his positive test with the media. "He protected his teammates because he put himself in a conversation where you let us know through the protocols and the testing. He was not around anybody else."
Shelton has expressed how he's enjoyed having Polanco's smile back in the clubhouse.
Polanco laughed when he heard that on Wednesday. He has a lot to smile about right now.
"I'm not even mad at all. I'm not even mad that I got sick or whatever, I'm just grateful that I went through that and I'm past it," Polanco said. "I'm still alive, I'm healthy and I'm here."
Polanco followed MLB's safety protocols, and while that may seem like a no-brainer, what's happening with the Marlins is proof that it isn't always so easy.
On Sunday, the Marlins' players decided to play the Phillies, even though they had just found out that three players tested positive for COVID-19, suggesting it was spreading in the clubhouse. In the days that have followed, half of the team has tested positive, and the league has cancelled Marlins and Phillies games to try to contain the virus from spreading further.
The incident -- and the potential of another one down the road -- is making some wonder if teams will be able to play a full season.
"I hope we can. I hope we can get to the 60-game season. I don’t know [if we can]," Polanco said. "This is a little crazy right now, the world we live in. We only know today. We don’t know tomorrow. This year is different. I hope because I want to play. I’ve been off for so long that I want to play as much as I can. But I don’t have any control over that. I want to play as much as we can."