Houston Astros Keeping Star Slugger Out of Field
The Houston Astros begin their final push to clinch the American League West division on Friday, facing the 102-loss Kansas City Royals.
They previously lost to the Royals less than a week ago amid losing three straight series.
The Astros will look to right the ship but will doing so without their star slugger playing in the field.
According to manager Dusty Baker, they're going to keep Yordan Alvarez out of left field and continue putting him in the designated hitter role moving forward.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported that Alvarez played catch earlier in the day Friday with bench coach Joe Espada and trainer Jeremiah Randall watching the session.
When asked if it was an injury or ailment keeping the slugger from playing in the field, Baker responded, "It’s better that we DH him."
That's not been uncommon for Houston this season, who have primarily used Alvarez this year in the designate hitter role.
But with catcher Martin Maldanado set to be in the lineup everyday and their slugger locked in at DH, they lose the potent bat of their star rookie Yainer Diaz, who would likely only be used as a pinch hitter late in games.
The Astros have plenty of options defensively to put in the outfield in the absence of Alvarez, but the offense has not been performing up to their standards over the past couple weeks.
Missing a bat like Diaz for the entire game is a huge loss.
Whether this is a permanent move for the rest of the season is unknown at this time, but it seems like the lefty superstar will remain as the team's designated hitter for the foreseeable future.
