Astros get some help from Triple-A by recalling Jose Altuve

Jose Altuve is expected to be activated before tomorrow’s Astros game.

Just one day after making his Triple-A debut, Jose Altuve got the news that he will be activated by the Astros from the DL before Tuesday’s game. After making his MLB debut in 2011, the 28-year-old second baseman hit the DL in his MLB career, until this year. He skipped Triple-A when he was promoted, so he played his first game there last night. Altuve went 1-3 with a hit by pitch to end his night (he’s ok). He kept the ball for his first Triple-A hit because that’s what you do.

The Fresno Grizzlies were off tonight, so the Astros decided to give Altuve the day off and report to Seattle. According to Brian McTaggart, “Hinch said the plan is for Jose Altuve to be activated tomorrow.” Coming off knee discomfort which landed him on the DL, the Astros will play it safe with the 2017 AL Award winner. This is why we can see Altuve play DH a little more down the stretch to save his legs for the playoffs.

The team feels that Altuve is healthy enough, but Jeff Luhnow hinted that Altuve might deal with knee discomfort for the rest of the year. We will see how he responds, but it is obvious how much the lineup misses their MVP. While Marwin Gonzalez has filled in well for Altuve, his return is much needed. Altuve is batting .329 with nine homers and 46 RBI via Baseball-Reference. His numbers are down, but look for him to be rejuvenated after the short break.

After the game tonight, I expect Kyle Tucker to be going down to Triple-A in favor of Altuve. Tony Kemp and Tyler White have been valuable pieces to the lineup amidst the injuries, but Tucker will be a big part of the future. Look for Tucker to get recalled when rosters expand in September. This team is still built to win. They are just in a little funk. They struggled last August as well.