Five years removed from his last major league start and half a world away from home, David Buchanan laughs at the idea that he's back at the center of the baseball universe _ if he ever occupied a seat there in the first place.
"I'm not sure what kind of reputation I left in Philly," the right-hander said by phone Wednesday. "I probably have a better reputation in Allentown (Pa.) than I do in Philly."
Buchanan, 30, made 35 starts over two seasons (2014-15) for the Phillies during the forgettable Ryne Sandberg era. An early casualty of the organization's rebuilding project, he pitched in Japan for three years and signed in December with the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization.
And Wednesday, while most of the United States slept, Buchanan emerged from a 14-day quarantine, went to a ballpark, dressed in his uniform, and practiced with his teammates.
Just as South Korea has constrained the coronavirus pandemic as effectively as any country in the world, its preeminent baseball league is closer than any other to starting its season. Intrasquad games are ongoing; exhibition play is slated to begin April 21. Players were informed this week that the 10-team league could open its season as soon as May 1, albeit without fans in attendance.
Many challenges must be met before that day arrives.
In Japan, Nippon Professional Baseball planned to begin its season on April 24 until three players on the Hanshin Tigers tested positive for COVID-19 and forced an indefinite postponement. With the virus not yet having reached its apex in the U.S., Major League Baseball is mulling a creative, if not crazy, plan to begin the season at ballparks in the Phoenix area, where players, coaches, and essential personnel would live in isolation, undergo frequent testing, and even trade the close proximity of dugouts for sitting six feet apart in the otherwise empty stands.
Needless to say, the baseball world will be watching Korea.
"Rumor has it if one player gets it in the KBO, then (the season) will most likely be canceled," said right-hander Ben Lively, another former Phillies pitcher and Buchanan's teammate with the Lions. "That's always been out there. We've kept hearing it. Hopefully, it doesn't happen, but I mean, there's always a chance."
