ARLINGTON, Texas _ Joey Gallo isn't sure how he tested positive for COVID-19, nor is he entirely convinced he had it.
He said he was doing the right things _ wearing a mask, staying home as much as possible, trying to keep those around him safe _ and had no symptoms.
He lives in a Dallas apartment building where many people touch the same surfaces and quarters can become tight in hallways and elevators, so maybe that was it.
But no one he had contact with has tested positive.
Gallo also tested negative in private testing during the same period that MLB's test said he was positive.
However, he knows this: He doesn't want to test positive for COVID-19 again during a 60-game season in which there is no cushion for missing time or for a slow start.
"As of right now, I am coming up negative, and that's how I am hoping to stay the rest of the season," Gallo said Saturday after his second workout of summer camp.
"Now I am on edge going through that process and not knowing and having to miss so much time. It's crucial. You have 60 games and only have three weeks to get ready. Missing two weeks is huge. Everybody is a little nervous about that. Nobody wants to come up positive. We are taking every precaution and everybody is on board with it."
Players are to be tested every other day the rest of the season after their initial screenings before camp. Gallo said he was nervous for his saliva test Saturday because he had consumed coffee at breakfast and was unsure how it would affect his sample.
The medical community still can't say with certainty if someone can get COVID-19 twice.
Gallo will not play his first camp game until Monday, after most Rangers players take the day off Sunday. He wanted to play Friday and Saturday, but manager Chris Woodward held him out to minimize the risk of an injury.
Gallo, though, said that he didn't take time off while quarantined after his positive test. He set up his tee and net again in his living room, and used resistance bands on his balcony to maintain some level of strength.
He also spent his time during the shutdown working out at Globe Life Field and has a good sense of how right field plays and how the ball carries off his bat.
Gallo famously said in early May that the new $1.2 billion ballpark was playing "big as hell" during the shutdown, but while using a batch of old baseballs that didn't come off the bat well. With new balls, though, the ballpark is still playing much bigger than Globe Life Park.
"It's a big park," he said. "When we use new balls, it carries a little bit better. I don't know if I want to say 100 percent 'pitcher's park,' but it's definitely going to be more pitcher-friendly than our old one."
The key for Gallo to catch up on time missed is seeing pitches and getting reps in right field, where he said adjusting to the roof is a bigger challenge for an outfielder than the multiple different angles on the outfield walls.
The Rangers will likely play seven intrasquad games next week and exhibition games July 21-22 against the Colorado Rockies before opening the season at home against the Rockies on July 24.
"For me it's just getting at-bats, getting as many at-bats as I can," Gallo said. "Playing in all the rest of these games we have. That's the plan. I am going to play Monday when we get back. I am going to try and play every inning that I can because I just need as many reps baseball-wise as possible."
