Houston Astros Star Designated Hitter Scratched From Lineup With Thumb Injury

The Houston Astros have made a late change to Tuesday's spring training lineup for the matchup against the Washington Nationals which should have fans at least slightly concerned.

As first reported by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, the Astros have scratched designated hitter Yordan Alvarez from the lineup after the slugger jammed his thumb during batting practice a couple of days ago.

It may be just a scare however as McTaggart also qualified the fact Alvarez is expected to play tomorrow when Houston takes on the New York Mets.

Having Alvarez out for any sort of extended period of time in a disaster scenario where the injury proved more serious than the team may have initially thought would be a difficult storm for the lineup to weather.

Alvarez is one of the best hitters in all of baseball and with the Astros already having to replace Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker in terms of run creation, they cannot afford to lose their three-time All-Star DH as well.

Slashing .308/.392/.567 with 35 home runs and 86 RBI in 2024, Alvarez finished top-ten in American League MVP voting for the second time in his career. His 103 home runs over the last three seasons place Alvarez well within the ranks of most devastating power hitters in all of baseball and with the 27-year-old just entering his prime, there's no reason to think he's not due for another huge season.

Astros fans will anxiously await a further update on the status of their star, but by the sounds of it, they don't have anything to fear and Alvarez should be back on the field mashing long balls very soon.