The Cincinnati Reds hired Geoff Head last offseason to oversee their health-and-performance team, a group of roughly 50 men and women divided into seven departments. He got the job in December, two months later than normal for that type of role. Three months after that, the sport shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Three months after that, on June 29, with baseball scrambling to return amid an escalating public health crisis, Head's wife, a nurse practitioner at an at-risk clinic in Mesa, Arizona, tested positive for COVID-19 and passed the virus to the couple's 8-month-old son.
Why MLB athletic trainers are the key to keeping the 60-game season afloat
