Injuries are beginning to pile up for the Houston Astros in the early going, as the team placed Jose Altuve on the 10-Day Injured List with a left hamstring strain on Wednesday. The veteran suffered the injury in Monday’s game after hustling on an infield single. Altuve joins closer Ryan Pressly, who was placed on the Injured List, this past weekend. The move is retroactive to Tuesday, April 19th, the team announced. In a corresponding move, infielder J.J. Matijevic was called up to the Major League roster.
Altuve is one of the many Astros batters who have gotten off to a slow start in 2022. In nine games this season, he has batted .167 with one home run and two runs scored. To this point, he is striking out in 24.4% of his plate appearances, which is double his career rate. With Altuve hitting the IL, it will be at least a week and a half before he can reverse these trends.
Other Astros Injury Updates
Lance McCullers Jr. has yet to make his season debut, and we will have to wait until at least early June for that. The Astros transferred McCullers Jr. to the 60-Day Injured List on Monday. The veteran right-hander began a throwing program last week, but his return is still quite a ways off. McCullers Jr. is recovering from a forearm injury that occurred at the end of last season.
In order to make room for Matijevic, the team transferred infielder Taylor Jones to the 60-Day IL. Jones was placed on the IL on April 7th with lower-back discomfort. Houston had initially believed that Jones would be on the list for the minimum stay, but he has not progressed as they hoped.
Outfielder Jake Meyers has been throwing from 90 feet according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The young slugger suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the 2021 season and is still recovering from that. There is no concrete timetable for his return, but the rehab appears to be near completion.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Jose Altuve, Ryan Pressly, J.J. Matijevic, Lance McCullers Jr., Taylor Jones, Jake Meyers
