LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter tested positive for COVID-19 and will be away from the team “for the foreseeable future,” manager AJ Hinch announced Monday.
The Tigers found out about Fetter’s test Sunday night. Hinch will shuffle his coaching staff for the last two days of spring training, with Toledo pitching coach Doug Bochtler is joining the crew in his absence.
But Hinch isn’t sure who will replace Fetter on the coaching staff when the regular season starts April 1 against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. The Tigers are in the middle of the contact-tracing process to make sure everyone else is healthy.
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“We feel good with where we’re at,” Hinch said Monday about the tracing process. “We’ve got to go through the protocols to get more information and continue to test to make sure everything is good to go.”
Fetter was hired by Hinch this offseason from the University of Michigan. He is going to miss his first Opening Day experience. Hinch said Fetter didn’t break COVID-19 protocols or do anything to put himself in a potentially jeopardizing situation.
“He was literally hotel, field, couple of road trips,” Hinch said. “He was arguably the best at the mask and one of the safest people in our entire organization. I’m heartbroken for him that an opportunity could be missed here.”
Right-hander Spencer Turnbull remains on the non-baseball injured list because of COVID-19 protocols, but Hinch won’t elaborate beyond explaining Turnbull will miss “the first few series” of the season. He shared medical details about Fetter because his pitching coach gave him permission to do so.
The story will be updated.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter tests positive for COVID-19