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Slugger’s triumphant return is being lost amidst the Astros’ late season struggles

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

New York Yankees v Houston Astros / Alex Slitz/GettyImages

The Houston Astros are not playing great baseball at the moment. They are currently 3-5 in September, with both the Mariners and Rangers hot on their heels in the AL West. The offense as a whole has been inconsistent, and injuries in the rotation and bullpen are really starting to take a toll. However, lost in these scuffles is that it looks like Yordan Alvarez is officially back.

Missing as much time as Alvarez did with what was a curiously handled hand injury, it would have been completely understandable if he were rusty. Especially for sluggers like him, having one's timing completely down is the difference between striking out or fouling a pitch off and sending it 450 feet into the night. Most probably thought that he would be fine, but it would take a little while to get going.

Instead, Alvarez has looked like he hasn't missed a beat since returning to Houston's lineup.

Yordan Alvarez looks like he never left since returning from hand injury

Before he was placed on the injured list, Alvarez was having a tough season as he dealt with an injury to his hand. In the 29 games before his IL stint, Alvarez had just a .210/.306/.340 line which was extremely low given the standard he had set for the rest of his career. The injury did explain a lot of it, but there was some concern that Alvarez's timing could be off even when he was healed up.

Those concerns proved to be unfounded. In the 13 games that Alvarez has played since returning to the Astros' lineup on August 26, Houston's designated hitter has slashed .444/.536/.711 with three homers and nine RBI. Obviously, that pace isn't sustainable, but it does show that for the first time all season long, Alvarez is completely healthy and his timing at the plate is right where it needs to be.

For an Astros team that is trying not to spiral out of a playoff spot altogether, Alvarez's return to form is a welcome sight. Houston is still going to need to find more consistency on both sides of the ball to hold off Texas and Seattle, but having a healthy and vengeful Alvarez playing every day again sure helps the cause.

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Eric Cole

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.