Due to the global pandemic associated with COVID-19, the Houston Astros will use the baseball facilities at the University of Houston as an alternate workout site, General Manager James Click announced on Monday.

Along with their home facilities at Minute Maid Park, the Astros will use Don Sanders Field at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park in an effort to stay within the social distancing and health guidelines handed down by Major League Baseball when it announced the start of the 60-game MLB 2020 season. There will be approximately 30 players participating in workouts at the Houston Baseball Player Development Center once players are allowed to return.

“The University of Houston has one of the finest college baseball facilities in the country,” Click said. “Our Major League staff was extremely impressed by it. We’re fortunate to have the UH campus in such close proximity to Minute Maid Park and to have a facility which will allow us to continue to focus on our top priority – the safety of our players and staff – while also providing our players every advantage as they get ready to compete for a championship in 2020.

I would like to thank Vice President for Athletics Chris Pezman, Deputy AD David Tagliarino, and Coach Todd Whitting for accommodating us. We are very excited to call UH our 2020 alternate spring training home.”

The Astros will utilize the UH facilities from July 2-24 before returning to full team workouts at Minute Maid Park.