The Astros have been rather vague with their timeline for Alex Bregman’s return from the injured list, but manager Dusty Baker said in an appearance on Sports Talk 790 today that he doesn’t expect Bregman back for at least another month (Twitter link).
Injury updates on Bregman have been handled somewhat clumsily from the beginning. The third baseman himself initially said there was no timetable, which isn’t particularly surprising, but he also added at the time of the injury that he wasn’t sure whether he was dealing with a Grade 1 or Grade 2 strain of his hamstring. Last week, Baker told reporters that the expectation was for Bregman to be out “two to three works or more,” and while today’s statement doesn’t technically invalidate that tentative timeline, it certainly paints a more pessimistic outlook with regard to Bregman’s return.
The first-place Astros have a 1.5-game lead over the second-place Athletics, so the absence of one of their best all-around players is a particularly notable blow. The 27-year-old Bregman is enjoying another strong year at the plate, hitting .275/.359/.428 with seven homers and 14 doubles through 262 plate appearances. That’s in line with last year’s production, but his bat has fallen off since 2019’s ridiculous .296/.423/.592, 41-homer showing that earned him a second-place finish in AL MVP voting.
With Bregman sidelined, the Astros have turned to young Abraham Toro to handle the bulk of the work at the hot corner. The 24-year-old Toro has ranked as one of Houston’s better prospects for the past few years, and after a rough showing at the plate early in the season, he’s returned from Triple-A with a .294/.385/.471 in 39 plate appearances. That follows up on a massive .352/.485/.593 performance in 68 Triple-A plate appearances.
Kewldood69
Bang bang.
CamFrost
Dumb dumb.
Fever Pitch Guy
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
gofish 2
Wow you’re so kewl
Ww0907
All day baby, pucker up and kiss that ring!
ChunkyMonkey
Go bang on a barrel you bum.
Johnny NewYork
Even tho this guy cost the big apple a bunch I still think he’s a cool dude and want to be friend and pray one day he plays 4 da yanks.
jmaverik
Haha, they didn’t cost the over ranked Yanks anything. Funny, Astros hitting better than ever. Yanks can’t hit. Wonder who was really cheating?
steven st croix
It’s pretty crazy how good they are without this guy. Hou v SD World Series is going to be fantastic to watch.
goastros123
Houston has to work on their bullpen if they want to reach the world series. Also, I flagged your comment on accident. Whoops. If you get a notification about that, just ignore it.
Colt 45
bullpen was NO issue when the starters were going 7 every game during the streak – 10 run leads don’t hurt any, either
goastros123
Bullpen is an issue NOW. Overall, it’s not good enough.
Colt 45
no kidding – I’m listening.
Colt 45
Robel Garcia in – I don’t suppose you’re old enough to remember this turning point game? baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=reynocr0…
FletcherFan66
RIP BOZO
#packwatch
taran7
275 with 7 homers halfway through is a strong year? What a joke. Oh, and it seems like he learned it’s hard to hit when you don’t know what pitch is coming.
takeitback
Yet again someone has to prove that reading is hard. Article literally says 2019 was his best year. It’s already been proven that the Astros didn’t cheat in 2019.
dirkg
You mean MLB couldn’t get enough people to come forward about 2019. Google Kurt Suzuki and several other players from the WS who said they heard all types of whistles and noises from the Astros dugout.
…
There is zero reason for the Astros to have suddenly stopped in 2018. They got caught after the 2019 season.
…
I’d hope that we’re all not this gullible.
…
And numbers don’t lie – Bregmans numbers are a fraction of what they were during the cheating era.
Colt 45
numbers lie all the time; or, rather, the people using them to support their preferred notions do.
That would be, you. You want to believe that, so you believe that. Altuve, Correa, and Gurriel are all playing as well or better than they did in 2019.
Whatcha gonna do with THOSE numbers?
lsujedi
They’re obviously all wearing buzzers. Carlos Beltran’s fake cousin told us so.
Colt 45
well, except Bregman
he gave HIS buzzer to Toro.
dirkg
I don’t care about those numbers. The article is about Bregman and his numbers. He clearly benefitted from the cheating mechanism in place up through 2019.
Colt 45
Nothing clear about it.
Do you have a tendency to knee-jerk in the other areas of your life?
a37H
I mean, hitting 18 percent better than is pretty good. It’s not good as good as when he was getting bangs from the dugout, but he’s still a good hitter
lsujedi
Where are you getting 18 percent from? .275 to .296 is 7 percent.
Colt 45
dude has the 40th best average in MLB, which is better than every single team in MLB, except the Astros.
Redwood13
Story in home run derby with 7 homer’s and has played the whole year Bregman has missed most of the month with injury. Batting .275 is pretty good most mlb players would love to bat .275 Mancini with the Orioles has 9 hrs
mkeyankee
Pretty blatantly obvious why his 2019 numbers were so above his talent and ability alone.
lsujedi
I know, a full year in that historic lineup, tough to pitch around anyone, right?
creacher
20 bang bang 19
fred-3
A quad injury is usually a sign of steroid usage
Redwood13
Isn’t that what Trout has? The so called greatest player in the game, so you are calling out Mike Trout?
jmaverik
Dumbest comment I have seen in some time.
hd-electraglide
“Dr. Fred said “ got his medical degree from watching Marcus Welty, MD
whyhayzee
Sortsa. Diputs. Elpoep. Egabrag. Nac.
gtb1
Quad or hammy?
lsujedi
Quad. Hammy was his injury earlier this spring iirc.