Antonetti: “It was life-threatening.”

Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations, made the drive down I-71 on Monday to hold a team meeting. The subject: Leonys Martin. Antonetti was happy to have positive news to report to his players, as Martin is in stable condition after contracting a bacterial infection that became life threatening. Here is the update Antonetti gave to reporters.

Antonetti: “Leonys is currently in stable condition,” Antonetti said. “He continues to get treatment at the Cleveland Clinic. And we’re optimistic that he’ll have a full recovery. Now, to give you a little bit of backstory of how we got to this point, Leonys had a bacterial infection that entered his blood stream and when it entered his blood stream it produced toxins. Those toxins did damage to his internal organs and the functioning of those organs was compromised, and it was severe. And he’s not in a process… Thankfully, he’s made a lot of progress in the last 24 to 36 hours and he’s regained a lot of the organ function. And so, we’re optimistic and he’s on a good path right now and we’re hopeful that he’ll have a full recovery. But, he’s got a long path to get to full health in front of him. It’s going to take him some time, but we’re in a much better spot today than we were 24 to 36 hours ago. And I do want to make a particular point that the care that he got at the Cleveland Clinic was extraordinary. The team of caregivers — from the doctors to the nurses to the specialists to everybody that facilitated his care — was truly extraordinary. Without their herculean effort we may be in a different spot today than we are. So, I’d like to extend our gratitude to them.”

Q: Can you walk us through the timeline of Martin’s situation?

Antonetti: “Yeah, so, it was exactly as we shared. Leo played that game that night [Tuesday], felt fine. As Tito mentioned, he felt sick in the middle of the night and that morning, when he woke up, he continued to feel ill. At that point, we took him to the hospital and that’s when things progressed from there. He was really sick.”

Q: Could this have originated at the ballpark? In the training room or shower?

Antonetti: “We don’t know exactly how the bacteria entered his system. It’s not a communicable thing. It can’t be transferred from one person to the next, but the bacteria somehow entered his blood stream. We don’t yet know how. I’m not sure we will know how. But, once that bacteria entered the blood steam, it produced toxins that led to him getting really sick.”

Q: Which organs were impacted?

Antonetti: “It was pretty widespread throughout.”

Q: Was he in critical condition?

Antonetti: “I’m not sure the technical term for it, but it was very serious.”

Q: Is he done for the year?

Antonetti: “We haven’t really even thought about baseball yet. I don’t know whether or not he’ll play again this year. Our first focus is let’s make sure we get him back to full health. His wife’s with him now, his dad and his brother — they’re all in town.”

Q: Do you know the official name of this particular bacterial infection?

Antonetti: “The doctors are still working to figure out exactly what happened. I don’t know the specific bacteria name.”

Q: Was there a chance he could’ve died from this?

Antonetti: “It was life-threatening. Thankfully, today he’s in stable condition. He’s able to communicate. He was able to get up and sit in a chair for a few hours yesterday. He’s in a much better spot today than he was a couple of days ago.”

Q: How quickly did his condition worsen?

Antonetti: “Very quickly. It progressed rapidly, within hours.”

Q: Is there any sort of timeframe for his recovery?

Antonetti: “No. We have no idea. Like I said, I think progress will be measured in weeks, not days.”

Q: Will this situation necessitate looking for outfield help again via trade or waivers?

Antonetti: “We’ve been continuing to look for ways to improve the team, irrespective of Leonys’ position. Obviously, in August, it’s a lot more difficult to make trades. Very few players have cleared waivers. Very few players have even made it to us on the waiver process. I’m not sure what the likelihood of that will be, but we’ll continue to look for ways to improve.”

Q: What has the reaction been within the clubhouse?

Antonetti: “Today was the first day where we could really share much. Obviously, we wanted to make sure we had the family’s permission to share. Yaimira, Leonys’ wife, actually encouraged me, because so many people have reached out both in the organization and externally. She thought it would be helpful if I shared some context for others. So that way it would relieve the burden on her to have to get back to so many people. Our players have been — throughout this process — they’ve reached out and let him and his wife know that they’re thinking about them and lending their prayers and support.”

Q: You noted that it’s non-communicable, but will you need to take precautionary steps with any of the shared spaces at Progressive Field?

Antonetti: “It’s not communicable. We continue to emphasize with guys good hygiene practices. Not this particular situation, but this is why we — staph infections, MRSA, things like that — it’s one of the reasons why we emphasize all those things that seem boring in Spring Training, but they’re important.”

— JB