The Astros received some bad news about their star hitter yesterday. After Yordan Álvarez completed a short batting practice session and subsequently faced live pitchers, he felt the discomfort in his injured right hand return and was sent for an MRI. The test revealed a small fracture, which went undiagnosed at the time due to the significant soft tissue swelling in the area.
“Obviously, the initial plan was to hit against the pitchers and then be activated,” Álvarez told our sister page Pelota Cubana USA this Saturday. “I agreed with the plan even though I wasn’t feeling well. I told my teammates that if there was nothing else to do, I would have no choice but to go out and play like this. But when I started facing the pitchers, I knew I couldn’t do it,” he continued.
Álvarez added that he plans to continue with the rest of his baseball activities, only ceasing batting practice, although he clarified that it would only be “for a short period of time.” The Cuban also expressed satisfaction that amid the bad news and frustration, not everything was negative. “At least I know for sure I’m not going into surgery, and that says a lot. I would have missed a lot more time.
Yesterday they told me that the injury was already more than 60% healed,” he continued. Before getting injured, the slugger was having the slowest start of his career. He had an slash line of just .210/.306/.340/.646, with seven extra-base hits (including three home runs) and 18 RBIs in 29 games.
In fact, his WAR was negative (-0.3). The Astros, who only had him as a natural left-handed hitter on the active roster, will have to continue opting to include Puerto Rican switch-hitter Victor Caratini in their lineup as an option and third catcher, Mexican Cesar Salazar, is also a switch-hitter, but management has barely used him this season.