Adam Jones had already played in an empty stadium — the Orioles-White Sox regular-season game in 2015 that was played in Baltimore during that city’s civil unrest following the death of Freddie Gray. But playing preseason games in Japan, which shut its doors to fans in late February amid concerns about the spreading coronavirus, has a different feel.



“There’s no fans anywhere,” Jones told The Athletic in a telephone interview, as he reflected on that Baltimore game and the pockets of Oriole fans who still cheered from outside the gates. “Here, they said to stay away, and the fans said, ‘O.K., we respect that.’ There’s no access to fans at all. It’s smart to get ahead of it.”



Jones, who signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization this winter, left the United States in January. He said Saturday night he applauds the...