Houston Astros need an ailing Yordan Alvarez healthy again

Yordan Alvarez is a vital cog in the Houston Astros lineup and the longer his knee issues linger the more worried the team should be.

When Yordan Alvarez broke onto the scene last year he created quite a whirlwind with his laser beams and tape measure jacks. Alvarez played in only 87 games with the Houston Astros yet had 53 extra-base hits including 27 home runs, many of the breath-taking, moon-shot variety.

Opposing teams changed the way they aligned their defense when Alvarez came to the plate and opposing pitchers altered how they pitched to him. Alvarez has a keen eye and drew 52 free passes last year.

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Needless to say, Yordan Alvarez is an important part of the Astros lineup. Unfortunately, he has been limited to just thirteen plate appearances this spring. What started as “general knee soreness”, has soon turned into a minor knee injury.

There is no timeline at this point for a return to action for Alvarez and the Astros are being extremely reserved on the few details they are releasing. Whether Alvarez is available for Opening Day remains in question as well. However, the more time he misses on this end of spring training, the more likely he sits once the season begins.

Alvarez is slated as the designated hitter for the Astros therefore replacing him in the lineup won’t be hard. Replacing his production might be. Kyle Tucker figures to gain the most playing time in the absence of Alvarez. Tucker can play multiple outfield positions so he can give defensive days of rest to others as well.

The Houston Astros need a healthy Yordan Alvarez in the lineup, plain and simple. They have a little bit of a buffer zone here in spring training before the games start to count so they should error on the side of caution. Astros fans should forget about the boo birds and start to worry about Yordan’s knee.