Houston Astros Could Get Star Back Quicker Than Expected

The Houston Astros provided an update on Monday on the status of their injured veteran second baseman Jose Altuve.

The Houston Astros have outlined the next steps regarding the recovery of second baseman Jose Altuve.

On Monday, Altuve arrived early, according to AT&T Sports Net Houston, and he took early batting practice in the cage and ran the bases, among other baseball activities.

Astros manager Dusty Baker met with the media on Monday. For the past week, the schedule for Altuve has been for him to likely go on a rehab assignment for at least a couple of games to get some game prep. 

But Baker said that may not be the case.

When asked if Altuve could be activated without a rehab assignment, Baker said it was "possible," per MLB.com. But Baker also needs to speak to Altuve about where he's at.

Altuve started ramping up his rehab with the team while in Oakland over the weekend. Altuve did two full pre-game workouts on Thursday and Friday and then did cage work on Saturday.

The Astros scratched Altuve from a start on July 4 after he injured himself during batting practice. Two days later the Astros placed Altuve on the 10-day injured list with left oblique discomfort. Altuve was eligible to be activated on Friday.

Along with running bases, Altuve has been hitting both soft toss and off a tee.

He missed the start of the season with surgery on his fractured right thumb, an injury that occurred during the World Baseball Classic.

Altuve returned on May 19 and, aside from a short break from June 3-6 due to a minor setback, he’s played nearly every day. That setback was an oblique injury.

Altuve is batting .264 with six home runs and 18 RBI this season.

Also, injured outfielder Michael Brantley started ramping up his cage work and baseball activities during the road trip. He also did some cage work on Monday, along with running the bases.

Brantley has missed the entire season after offseason shoulder surgery. Before the All-Star Break, the Astros briefly shut Brantley down after Baker said that his recovery had “plateaued.”

The Astros begin a three-games series with the Texas Rangers on Monday.

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