This isn't exactly stunning news considering what's happening around the country, but the Florida State baseball team has been besieged with COVID as the new year gets started for the Seminoles.

Head coach Mike Martin Jr. estimated that he had "probably 16" of the 39 players on his roster able to work out on Wednesday, which was the first day of activities of the new year for his club. Less than half.

To illustrate how fluid the situation is for Martin Jr. -- and coaches around the country in every sport -- five minutes after an interview on Wednesday evening, he texted that two more players had tested positive and three more were going to have to isolate because of close contact.

"The main thing is to get them out and in the right frame of mind, doing what they love to do," Martin Jr. said. "They've been cooped up. Some have dealt with COVID, some have had issues with the flu and other stuff. But just getting them back into a routine. That's the key. We've got to get into a great routine and stay in a great routine and the sky is the limit for this club."

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From day to day, though, he doesn't know who exactly can participate.

Martin Jr. said the vast majority of positive cases on the team are asymptomatic. And he's hoping, of course, that by the time their protocol window is up, they'll be able to rejoin the team with no issues.

But again, just like last preseason, there is just no continuity to what college baseball coaches can do from practice to practice.

And though the daily practices of the actual season don't start for three weeks, and the season doesn't officially start until Feb. 18, the early days of January are always valuable.

"With a little over two-thirds of the guys out, there's no sense in going over team stuff right now," Martin Jr. said. "So, we're going to wait for everybody to get back until we do that. And some of the guys that were contact-traced and couldn't be there, hopefully they can get out of that soon and get back to us."

In the meantime, Martin Jr. said, the guys that can't practice with others right now are still able to get work in. Pitchers can still work out on their own. And because the protocols have impacted so many different Seminoles, there are plenty of partners to go play catch with in the open air.

So, work can still get done. Even if it's not getting done at Howser.

As for what he expects from this team once it can actually be a team, Martin Jr. said he has very high hopes for the Seminoles in 2022.

Not only do they have arguably the best 1-2 starting pitcher combination in college baseball with preseason All-Americans Parker Messick and Bryce Hubbart, but he thinks the offense should be much better as well.

Even with the loss of ACC Player of the Year Mat Nelson.

"I do feel like we can be better than last year," Martin Jr. said. "Considerably better. We've got more depth. Our lineup, as far as the contact rate, is going to be a heck of a lot better than it was last year. The power, I don't know that we can match that, but we can come close. It's just a longer lineup. It's going to be harder for people to navigate.

"And I think we're going to be better defensively, and I think our pitching staff can match last year's. So, if we put the pieces of the puzzle together and don't screw it up, we should be fine."

Now it's just a matter of getting all those pieces on the field together.

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