HOUSTON -- The Astros believed they were close to getting slugger Yordan Alvarez back to their lineup this weekend when they had him take live batting practice against a pair of Minor League pitchers Friday, but general manager Dana Brown revealed before the club's 16-3 loss to the Rays on Saturday afternoon at Daikin Park that Alvarez has a “very small fracture” in his right hand.
Alvarez, who hasn’t played since May 2, has been shut down from swinging a bat. Brown said the broken bone in Alvarez’s fourth metacarpal is 60 percent healed and that Alvarez could return “sooner than later,” without giving any timeline. It’s unknown when the fracture occurred.
Alvarez was originally diagnosed with a muscle strain in his right hand following a May 6 MRI, and Brown said the swelling and inflammation in the hand prevented the team from seeing the broken bone. Alvarez said the swings he’s been taking in the last week may have exacerbated the injury, which won’t require surgery.
“We tried to get him back this weekend and then realized, ‘Look, if it’s still bothering you, then we probably need to get more imaging,’” Brown said. “Right now, we’re in the position [where] we’re hoping that he’s back in the near future. I think it could be soon, because it’s started to heal. He’s actually feeling better. I think with Yordan and the focus and the swings that he takes, he probably felt it a little bit, and that’s why we got the extra imaging.”
Alvarez said he originally hurt his hand swinging the bat in a game in late April, but he kept playing through the pain because he’s dealt with similar injuries in the past. He was scratched from the Astros’ lineup prior to the May 3 game against the White Sox in Chicago and went on the 10-day IL on May 5.
“I didn’t think it was going to be something big,” Alvarez said Saturday through interpreter Otto Loor. “I think the fact that I kept playing caused my hand to stress more and caused that small fracture.”
After their loss on Saturday, the Astros are 15-14 without Alvarez in the lineup. The 27-year-old slugger is in the midst of an uncharacteristically unproductive season, with just three home runs in 100 at-bats following four straight 30-homer seasons.
“We’ll keep marching forward,” manager Joe Espada said. “That’s our team, that’s in our DNA. We’ve been in this position before. These guys know we have to find a way to continue to move forward, and once he gets back, our team will improve.”
This is the second year in a row the Astros have lost a star offensive player to a broken bone that wasn’t initially diagnosed. Last year, outfielder Kyle Tucker fouled a ball off his shin June 3 and was first diagnosed with a shin contusion. It was revealed three months later, after the swelling had subsided, that he had fractured his shin.
“I think you don’t see the calcium build up until like five weeks or so, and that’s part of the problem,” Brown said. “When you do these images and you have so much fluid and inflammation, that’s very, very difficult to diagnose. … It happens, not only to us, but it happens to other players and other organizations, where in the first imaging you don’t see it and the player still feels like he has some pain there or discomfort and you have to get more imaging, and sometimes you get second opinions.”
Alvarez said the MRI performed after Friday’s workout was also examined by a doctor not affiliated with the club, which is standard practice for second opinions.
“It doesn’t surprise me that it was fractured,” Alvarez said. “I knew there was something on there on my first MRI. I had the muscle strain. That was what I was dealing with, and time passed and it was supposed to get better but it wasn’t.”
Considering the injury is only 60 percent healed and Alvarez will have to build up his swing again when he’s cleared to swing a bat, it’s reasonable to assume he will be sidelined for at least a few more weeks.
“I wish I had a magic ball to tell you,” Alvarez said. “But the good news is that it’s healing well, but I need rest. Because the fact that I kept on doing swings, it was taking it further to heal.”