Houston Astros receive positive injury updates on key players

The Houston Astros have mounted a strong comeback over the past two months to enter their final game before the All-Star break five games over .500, one shy of the American League West lead and 2.5 out of the final Wild Card spot.

The change has been remarkable.

After looking like the most disappointing team in baseball if they continued to falter and miss the playoffs, the Astros have flashed their championship pedigree and look like a group that will contend for another World Series title.

All this happened while I was dealing with multiple injuries.

Kyle Tucker and Justin Verlander are on the short-term injured list and three of their Opening Day starters are out for the rest of the season. Several players have been in and out of that list, making it difficult for anyone to develop a rhythm.

Houston has found a spark to get back on track, however, and it looks like they could be getting some major reinforcements soon.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported an update on Verlander’s recovery as he was moved to the stadium where he was pitching from a mound, and while it was a limited number of pitches, it’s a good sign that he’s slowly coming back from his neck injury.

The Astros’ injury page reported that backup catcher Victor Caratini was sent to their Florida complex where they will get him back on base and “go from there.” His left hip flexor injury was suffered on June 19 and he has been sidelined since.

Both players are expected to return shortly after the All-Star break.

This is great news for Houston, which needs as many contributing players healthy and in the mix before the trade deadline so management can see where they really need to improve.

Verlander will provide a boost to this rotation if he can rediscover his former form after this nick issue. Caratini was brought in to be a solid veteran behind Yainer Diaz, and he lived up to that reputation with a .248/.287/.429 batting line and a 101 OPS+. He also hit four homers and drove in 17 runs in his 39 limited games of work while producing a 0.4 defensive bWAR.

With those two back, the Astros will have a roster much closer to what many expected to contend for a championship this season after struggling to get back into contention before the halfway point of the year.