The Astros have positioned outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured checklist with proper hand irritation, retroactive to Could 3. Catcher César Salazar has been recalled to take his spot on the energetic roster. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was amongst these to relay the information.
The hand subject doesn’t come out of nowhere, as Alvarez missed the membership’s final two video games on account of that irritation. It’s unclear how a lot time the Astros anticipate him to overlook, however he wasn’t instantly positioned on the IL, so maybe they only need to give him a little bit of a relaxation. By backdating the transaction, he could be again in simply over every week.
Hand irritation has been a difficulty for him prior to now. He handled soreness in each fingers in 2022, and he did as soon as go on the IL that 12 months, although it was across the All-Star break, so he solely missed a couple of video games. Hand soreness additionally hampered him a bit in spring coaching 2023.
He nonetheless put up huge numbers in these seasons, however 2025 has been a wrestle. It’s unclear if he’s been battling the hand issues all 12 months, however he has a .210/.306/.340 line and 79 wRC+ by way of 121 plate appearances. That’s partly on account of a .222 batting common on balls in play, however his laborious hit fee and barrel fee are additionally down in comparison with earlier seasons. He carried a .298/.390/.583 profession batting line and 166 wRC+ into the season, so this 12 months’s manufacturing has been a large drop-off.
The Astros will certainly be hoping to get him again to that earlier type of offense after this IL stint. The one silver lining of not having Alvarez round is that it opens the designated hitter spot for different makes use of. The recall of Salazar provides the membership three catchers and maybe means that they are going to use the DH spot to get their backstops extra plate appearances.
Victor Caratini has been drawing walks at a 12% clip this 12 months, resulting in a .233/.340/.372 line and 112 wRC+. Yainer Diaz doesn’t have a superb line for the whole 12 months, hitting .221/.250/.365 to date for a 73 wRC+, however that’s principally on account of a horrendous begin. He had a dismal .061/.139/.061 line by way of April 8 however has hit .296/.306/.507 for a 130 wRC+ since then.
