The worst part about playing baseball in Korea isn't the lack of fans.
That's a new way of life, though, as the Korea Baseball Organization gives its season a go in a country considered one of the models for flattening the coronavirus curve.
The worst part is the COVID-19 test, essentially a long Q-tip being stuffed down the throat and jammed up both nostrils.
Way down and way up.
"Yeah, it's terrible," said Jared Hoying, the right fielder for the Hanwha Eagles.
Hoying is better known in these parts as a former Texas Rangers outfielder, who logged 74 at-bats in 2016 and 2017 before heading overseas. He doubted he was ever going to get an everyday opportunity in MLB, but he's been a KBO regular since 2018.
He is getting the chance to play the game he loves. The larger paychecks, larger than he ever received from the Rangers, the Round Rock Express or the Frisco RoughRiders, are nice, too.
The inconveniences of the COVID-19 test and the twice-daily checks for fever and enduring the two-week quarantine? Just ways to the means.
If MLB is to play its 2020 season, players will have to accept similar measures, Hoying said.
"They're keeping tabs on everybody and asking a lot of questions," he said. "It's part of the deal. We're able to play baseball, so you just deal with it and roll with the punches. That's the approach that everyone is taking over here."
MLB has presented the MLB Players Association with its plan for keeping players safe if the season begins in early July, commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday during an interview on CNN. Frequent testing is at the heart of MLB's return.
Hoying said that KBO requires all of its players and coaches to have their temperatures taken via a thermal scanner as they enter and leave the ballpark each day. Coaches and umpires must wear masks on the field, and spitting and high-fives have been banned.
Non-uniform personnel must wear masks and gloves.
Any player exhibiting symptoms will be put in quarantine, and the ballpark where he last played will be closed. A positive COVID-19 test could result in the league shutting down for at least three weeks.
"It's a lot of stuff looks good on paper, but it's not really feasible to do," Hoying said. "If someone gets a big hit or a home run, it's impossible to be in the dugout and not give your teammate a high-five."
The Athletic and ESPN obtained a draft of MLB operations manual Saturday, and many of the protocols used in KBO (no spitting, no high-fives) are included. Among the differences is that MLB players would be tested twice weekly for COVID-19, players could possibly sit in the stands rather than use dugouts, and taxis and ride-sharing would be prohibited.
And, as is the case in Korea, no fans would be in the stands.
Rangers TV broadcaster C.J. Nitkowski pitched two seasons in Korea in 2009 and 2010, and said crowds can trade games like a big party.
The empty ballparks have definitely caught his attention while watching early-morning games on ESPN as he prepares for his MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM shows, The Leadoff Spot and Loud Outs.
"No fans is a big one," Nitkowski said. "If you're playing a rival team or another big team, like if the Lotte Giants come up to Seoul and play LG or Doosan, they're way into it and super organized. That makes it great. It's definitely strange what I've seen so far.
Elvis Andrus and Willie Calhoun are among the Rangers players who have expressed doubts about playing without fans. Nitkowski agreed, saying the energy a crowd can create, especially during a key at-bat or tight spot defensively, can provide an extra boost to get the job done.
Joey Gallo, meanwhile, isn't sure it will be an issue, having played many games in the minor leagues with crowds so small it seemed as if no one is in the stands.
For Hoying, who started nine of Hanwha's first 11 games and collected a homer and five RBIs, the lack of crowds isn't the issue he though it would be.
"It's weird not having any fans, obviously," he said. "You don't get that extra adrenaline rush you're used to, but you're competing so hard. Once you're in the box or on the bases or on defense, you're locked in like you normally are."
As MLB moves closer to possibly playing games, no fans and no spitting are among the new norms players will have to accept as Hoying and players in Korea have.
"It seems somewhat normal," said Rangers manager Chris Woodward, who has seen snippets of KBO games on TV. "There's going to be a lot of rules in play that we're going to have to abide by."
