Yordan Alvarez has been on the Astros’ 10-day injured list since May 3 due to inflammation in his right hand, and the slugger was thought to be nearing a return to the lineup as early as today. However, Alvarez has now been shut down from swinging due to what GM Dana Brown described as a “very small fracture” in the ring finger of Alvarez’s hand.
The fracture was discovered after a live batting practice session on Friday, as Alvarez left the session feeling some discomfort in his hand. Imaging found a fracture that is already about 60 percent healed, Brown said, and surgery won’t be required.
Though the GM said Alvarez might still be back in “the near future” and will continue other baseball activities besides hitting, this more serious injury raises new questions about exactly how long one of the league’s top hitters will be sidelined. Hand problems have long been an issue for Alvarez, though his past hand-related injuries have also been just related to inflammation and soreness, rather than structural problems.
Alvarez had yet to get going (a .210/.306/.340 slash line in 121 plate appearances) at the time of his IL placement, but the three-time All-Star has traditionally been a bit of a slow starter. It speaks to Alvarez’s high standards that a career .265/.350/.488 slash line in March and April counts as his weakest performance in any month of the regular season, though obviously his numbers this year were well below his past March/April production.
Houston’s lineup has still managed to post roughly middle-of-the-pack numbers even with Alvarez either struggling or absent, not to mention a lack of production from such regulars as Christian Walker and Brendan Rodgers. Despite also dealing with several pitchers on the IL, the Astros are still in first place in the AL West, so another trip to the playoffs (or another deep run) certainly seems plausible if Houston can get everyone healthy and on track. An in-form Alvarez would naturally be a major piece of that puzzle, but his IL stint will now stretch into June.
As noted by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle, Alvarez’s situation shares some similarities with Kyle Tucker’s injury absence from last season. Initial testing of what seemed to be a bone bruise in Tucker’s shin missed a small fracture, and Tucker ended up missing over three months of the regular season. As with Tucker, Brown said that the amount of inflammation resulted in Alvarez’s fracture being overlooked by the first images, though an MRI did correctly diagnose a muscle strain.
“I think you don’t see the calcium buildup until like five weeks or so and that’s part of the problem,” Brown said. “And then when you do these imagings and you have so much fluid and inflammation, it’s very, very difficult to diagnose these. And this is for the professionals that do it, it’s very difficult. And even with multiple opinions, it’s very difficult to see.”