{"id":278635,"date":"2025-08-28T22:13:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T22:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/278635\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T22:13:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T22:13:20","slug":"bright-spots-ahead-for-astros-even-with-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/278635\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Spots Ahead For Astros Even With Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when it seemed the Houston Astros were getting fully healthy and their full squad back together, more injury news hit the team. It\u2019s almost becoming a cycle for Astros fans, with some players picking up new injuries. The Astros injured list<\/a> changes nearly every day with the number of players still on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Astros Injury Woes Continue, But Still Bright Spots To See<\/p>\n

Add veteran catcher Victor Caratini to the list. He moves to the 7-day concussion-injured list after taking two shots to the mask in the last few days. Cesar Salazar gets called up to the big league team as the corresponding move.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, starting catcher Yainer Diaz is now day-to-day with a hand injury that he suffered after getting hit by a Craig Kimbrel fastball while catching in Baltimore on Sunday.<\/p>\n

It requires a few more days to recover, so Salazar was immediately brought in as a starter. He did a great job catching Framber Valdez, who went seven scoreless innings against the Rockies on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the catcher position may be unstable for the next few days, good news continues<\/a> to come in for the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another Big-Time Astros Return Upcoming<\/p>\n

Starting center fielder Jake Meyers began his rehab assignment with the Astros\u2019 Triple-A affiliate Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Tuesday. Meyers recorded one hit in four at-bats and now looks to rebuild his timing after suffering a right calf strain on July 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before getting hurt, the outfielder had been a great all-around player for the Astros as an elite defender and productive bat. Meyers carried a .308 average with a .774 OPS in 89 games this season. The 29-year-old Nebraska native hit three home runs and 21 RBIs along with 14 stolen bases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His return, potentially in early September, comes at an opportune time to get ready before the postseason is here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH: Yordan goes deep<\/p>\n

It was great news for Houston on Monday as designated hitter Yordan Alvarez<\/a> was officially activated from the injured list and rejoined the lineup. On Tuesday, Alvarez hit his first home run since April with a bomb to straightaway center field, 421 feet.<\/p>\n

Few hitters can crush a homer to that part of Daikin Park, but the big man has done it before, and did it again as he works back into form ahead of a crucial September.<\/p>\n

Alvarez returned for the first time since May 2 after suffering a fractured right hand followed by inflammation. The three-time All-Star struggled to start the year with only a .210 average and three home runs, along with a .646 OPS in 100 at-bats. Alvarez had a great rehab stint with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, hitting for a .467 average and 1.262 OPS in 15 plate appearances. While he didn\u2019t homer, he collected seven hits and drove in four runs.<\/p>\n

Sanchy Is Here<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a welcome sight in Houston to see Jesus Sanchez finally arrive at the plate. Fans have seen his great defense and arm, but he went into a 0\/27 slump. Sanchez has now broken out, hitting two home runs in his last five games. This includes a 439-foot blast, the second-longest by an Astro this season. The outfielder has gone 10\/18 (.556 average) over that stretch with four RBI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: William Purnell-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just when it seemed the Houston Astros were getting fully healthy and their full squad back together, more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,847,79,139,54,3211,452,4942,4,3614,5355,2264],"class_list":{"0":"post-278635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-craig-kimbrel","11":"tag-framber-valdez","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-astros","14":"tag-houstonastros","15":"tag-jake-meyers","16":"tag-jesus-sanchez","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-victor-caratini","19":"tag-yainer-diaz","20":"tag-yordan-alvarez"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115108695772804152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}