Astros News: Luis Garcia pulled from rehab assignment, Caratini working toward return

Houston just can't seem to get healthy, but there is at least SOME help on the way from the injured list.

Eric Cole

Houston Astros v Chicago White Sox / Quinn Harris/GettyImages

The Houston Astros played themselves back into contention over the last month and a half, but there are several hurdles they are going to have to overcome if they are going to keep it up. There is still a lot of uncertainty around the returns of Kyle Tucker and Justin Verlander, and several Astros players have been feast or famine when it comes to actual production in 2024.

Complicating matters, a couple of the guys that the Astros were hoping would be able to return from long-term injuries may not be returning as soon as fans hoped. Not only did Houston reveal that Lance McCullers Jr. suffered a significant setback in his rehab from elbow surgery, but now there are renewed health questions regarding Luis Garcia.

Astros News: Luis Garcia shut down during rehab due to lingering soreness

Garcia has been out since May 2023 after having Tommy John surgery. Up until this point, most of the updates on Garcia had been positive as he progressed to throwing again, and the start of his rehab assignment gave hope that he could provide some relief to the Astros' ailing rotation.

Unfortunately, those plans took a hit when it was revealed that Garcia got pulled from his rehab assignment. According to the report, Garcia simply didn't bounce back from his latest rehab start the way he or the team wanted. On the one hand, that doesn't necessarily mean there is a new injury in play, and he may just require some rest. However, it also means we don't know how long he is going to be shut down, and his timeline for return just got extended by quite a bit.

Astros News: Houston poised to get Victor Caratini back soon as he starts rehab assignment

One of the more under-the-radar injuries the Astros have been dealing with lately was the loss of catcher Victor Caratini to a hip flexor injury towards the end of June. Yainer Diaz has had a bit of an up-and-down season this year so far, and Caratini had been playing pretty well as the other part of that platoon before he went down.

Luckily, it sounds like Caratini could be back in the fold soon, as he started his rehab assignment this week. Hip injuries are particularly problematic for catchers, given they have to squat down constantly, but it would not be crazy to think that Caratini could be back playing in the big leagues in the next week or two, assuming there are no setbacks.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.