The Astros announced on Wednesday afternoon that star second baseman Jose Altuve underwent successful surgery to repair the right thumb fracture he suffered in the World Baseball Classic. He won’t begin baseball activities for two months and will require at least some time to work back into game shape from that point forward.
Given that timetable, it is difficult to envision Altuve playing in a big league game before June. Houston finds itself in the rare, unenviable situation of having a crisis at the keystone with Opening Day just days away. Whomever gets the nod against the White Sox a week from Thursday will be the first player other than Altuve to start at second base for the Astros on Opening Day since Bill Hall 12 years ago.
While first-year general manager Dana Brown didn’t rule out the possibility of looking outside the organization for infield help, he suggested that the club prefers to address their unexpected hole through in-house players.
“We’re going to look internally first. We have a good, core group of guys here,” Brown said. “We’ll exhaust what we have here in the organization because we do have some good players and we’ve always been interested in depth, (but) sometimes to acquire that depth you have to go outside the organization.”
If the club were to make an addition, it’d presumably be a low-cost depth move. Altuve will obviously take the job back once he’s healthy. It probably doesn’t make much sense to pursue a trade for someone like Isiah Kiner-Falefa; rather, the likelier course of action might be to look to a free agent like Jonathan Villar or a veteran who could opt out of a minor league deal elsewhere prior to Opening Day.
If the Astros stay internal or merely add a veteran to Triple-A Sugar Land as depth, a pair of players stand out as favorites for second base reps.
David Hensley
Hensley, 27 next week, only has 20 games of big league experience. Four of them came in the postseason, including a pair of starts in the World Series. He received those big assignments after a late-season promotion from Triple-A, where he slashed .298/.420/.478 in 464 plate appearances.
Hensley only hit 10 home runs in the minors last season but connected on 30 doubles and four triples. More impressively, the right-handed hitter worked walks at an elite 17.2 percent clip against an average 22.2 percent strikeout rate. Among Triple-A hitters with 400-plus plate appearances, only Will Benson had a better on-base percentage while only Jon Singleton, Benson, John Andreoli and Delino DeShields Jr. drew walks at a higher clip.
The San Diego State product now ranks as the No. 5 prospect in the Houston system by Baseball America's rankings. Regarded as a bat-first utility infielder, Hensley predictably draws praise from the outlet for his plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills. He is not regarded as a great defender but could offer a decent floor from an on-base perspective toward the back of the Houston lineup.
Mauricio Dubón
Dubón, acquired from the Giants last May, offers a very different profile than Hensley. He’s a versatile up-the-middle defender who makes a ton of contact but rarely walks. He has played 262 MLB games over parts of four seasons, hitting .244/.287/.366 with a 17.2 percent strikeout rate and 5.7 percent walk percentage. Those marks are well below-average on offense but his glove has allowed him to hold a roster spot. Public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have graded Dubón positively at each of second base, shortstop and in center field.
The Honduras native is out of minor league option years, meaning that the Astros will have to carry him on their active roster upcoming if they do not want to risk losing him. Considering they agreed to a $1.4M contract to avoid arbitration this offseason, it’s hard to envision they would let him go. Dubón should be on the roster on Opening Day and could see a decent amount of action at second base. His lack of a consistent bat could hold him back from a larger workload.
Depth Options
Offseason waiver claim Rylan Bannon is an option at second or third base. The 26-year-old has only seen action in five MLB games and is coming off a .249/.367/.421 showing over 99 games in Triple-A. He has attracted interest from a handful of teams on the waiver wire.
Houston added glove-first veteran Dixon Machado on a minor league deal over the winter. He’s a .226/.285/.292 hitter in parts of five MLB seasons and has struggled at the plate this spring.
Minor leaguers Grae Kessinger and Will Wagner have performed well during non-roster looks in camp but likely aren’t immediate options considering neither has yet played a game at Triple-A.
———————
Houston’s lineup should remain one of the league’s best even in Altuve’s absence. Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, José Abreu and Jeremy Peña are capable of driving a strong, run-scoring group. Still, it is far from ideal to have both Altuve and Michael Brantley open the season on the shelf as Houston embarks on their title defense.
In all likelihood, the Astros will be counting on one of Hensley or Dubón to step up early in the year to fill the void
More must-reads: