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| - Several Atlanta Braves players have tested positive for the coronavirus, including All-Star Freddie Freeman who team officials described Saturday as running a high temperature and "not feeling great". The 30-year-old Freeman has been put in quarantine and is not expected to rejoin the club "any time soon", said manager Brian Snitker on Saturday. Three other Braves' players tested positive including Pete Kozma, who like Freeman is showing symptoms. Relief pitcher Will Smith, of the US, and Haitian-American pitcher Touki Toussaint are also positive but not showing any symptoms. Snitker said Atlanta decided to name the players who test positive because they want to show Americans that the global pandemic is not a hoax. "This virus is real, it is nothing to mess with," said Snitker. "It sobers everybody up that this is real. "It shows that no one is immune to it." The news is a big blow to the National League East champions and it comes less than three weeks prior to the start of the pandemic delayed season. Like infielder Freeman, Kozma is running a fever. "We're going to have to be careful all year, and it's going to be the new normal for the next three months," Snitker told reporters on Saturday. Snitker said it was important for baseball to know even one of the game's biggest stars can test positive. Freeman, who is dual citizen holding both Canadian and American passports, was chosen in the second round of the MLB draft by the Braves in 2007. The Minnesota Twins announced Saturday that four players had tested positive for COVID-19, including Dominican infielder Miguel Sano. The New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs both said earlier in the week they would not be identifying players who test positive citing the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. gph/mdl
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