{"id":701800,"date":"2026-05-18T01:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/701800\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:18:19","slug":"jose-altuve-placed-on-il-with-oblique-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/701800\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Altuve Placed On IL With Oblique Strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve<\/a> is headed to the injured list with a Grade 2 oblique strain, the team announced. The veteran infielder homered off Jacob deGrom<\/a> on Saturday, but was removed from the game in the ninth inning. The injury kept him out of the lineup on Sunday. The club has yet to announce a corresponding move.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Altuve has been perfectly league average (100 wRC+) through 42 games. He got off to a torrid start, boasting an OPS over 1.000 after a dozen games, but has cooled from there. Altuve\u2019s long ball yesterday snapped a 21-game drought without a home run. He\u2019s slugged just .380 through 185 plate appearances.<\/p>\n

Altuve has been remarkably healthy during his 16-year career. The veteran has topped 600 plate appearances in every season since the shortened 2020 campaign, outside of 2023. He fell short that year primarily because of a broken thumb suffered after being hit by a pitch in the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

After a foray into the outfield last year, Aluve has slotted back in as the club\u2019s everyday second baseman. He\u2019s continued a downward trend as a defender this year. Altuve has recorded -5 Defensive Runs Saved in 338 1\/3 innings at the position. He ranks in the 11th percentile for Outs Above Average.<\/p>\n

Houston came into the season with a glut of infielders, but injuries have quickly whittled down the depth. Jeremy Pena<\/a> has been sidelined since mid-April with a hamstring strain. He missed a bit of time to begin the year after fracturing a finger in the WBC. The club lost Carlos Correa<\/a> for the season after he suffered an ankle injury in early May.<\/p>\n

Pena embarked on a rehab assignment earlier this week and could be nearing a comeback. The shortstop was in the clubhouse on Sunday and will travel with the team for a series in Minnesota, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com<\/a>. His return will help offset the loss of Altuve in the infield.<\/p>\n

Braden Shewmake<\/a> and Nick Allen<\/a> have seen time at shortstop with Pena and Correa out. Both could be options at the keystone, along with Shay Whitcomb<\/a>. Isaac Paredes<\/a> has played a bit of second base this season, but he\u2019s locked in at the hot corner with Correa gone. Brice Matthews<\/a> would be a candidate to fill in for Altuve, particularly if Jake Meyers<\/a> is back with the club.<\/p>\n

Meyers is recovering from an oblique injury of his own. He could return on Monday, per McTaggart<\/a>. Houston has thrown a slew of players in center field with Meyers sidelined. Matthews has earned the most plate appearances at the position, but Taylor Trammell<\/a>, Joey Loperfido<\/a>, Daniel Johnson<\/a>, and Zach Cole<\/a> have also seen time there. Getting Meyers\u2019 glove back in center field would be a nice upgrade. Sliding Matthews to second base would allow for a longer look at the former first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astros second baseman Jose Altuve is headed to the injured list with a Grade 2 oblique strain, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,452,5828,817],"class_list":["post-701800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-jake-meyers","tag-jeremy-pena","tag-jose-altuve"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116592948266817962","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701800","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=701800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}