After undergoing thumb surgery in late March, Jose Altuve was estimated for roughly a two-month recovery period before he could resume baseball activities. However, Astros GM Dana Brown gave a positive update on Altuve today, telling The Athletic’s Jim Bowden (Twitter link) that Altuve is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab. Altuve is showing “great movement” in his injured thumb, and Brown said the second baseman “will get an x-ray in 12 days or so to see how the thumb is healing, but [it] appears that it’s healing very well.”
If the x-rays are clean on Brown’s loose target date of May 5, that would seemingly imply that Altuve might be able to start baseball activities shortly thereafter. Some minor league rehab action would be necessary to get Altuve back up to full game readiness, but it all goes well, Altuve might be more in line for a return by closer to the middle of May than his initial early-June estimate.
It should be noted that the Astros placed Altuve on the 10-day injured list rather than the 60-day IL to begin the season, thus leaving the door open for Altuve to potentially return earlier than expected. A 60-day IL placement would have kept Altuve out until the very end of May, and even if Houston does eventually shift Altuve to the 60-day in the event of a setback or if he needs more ramp-up time, his 60-day clock would still have a retroactive start date of Opening Day.
The prospect of a quick Altuve return is great news for the Astros, who have still posted a respectable 12-10 record even without their longtime star (and also with Michael Brantley and Lance McCullers Jr. sidelined by injury). Mauricio Dubon has stepped into the everyday second base job in Altuve’s absence and hit .329/.350/.382 over 80 plate appearances, delivering a 108 wRC+ despite a lack of power. Dubon’s ability to hold the fort has been a nice relief for Houston, and answered some preseason concerns over whether or not the Astros were lacking in bench depth.