Astros' Dana Brown walking back comments on All-Star's injury is a bad look

Per Rome's report, Houston had been calling the 27-year-old's ailment a "deep bruise of the bone" and a "shin contusion" since he landed on the injured list in June.

Furthermore, the insider noted that Brown was asked twice on Saturday if Tucker had suffered a shin fracture, and the GM said that he didn't.

That contradicts Brown's latest update.

"After several rounds of medical imaging, we suspect there was some type of small fracture," he said in a statement to The Athletic on Monday, according to Rome's report. "As with all injuries of this type, once the fracture heals it takes time for the muscles around the leg to regain strength. Tuck has worked extremely hard to get back on the field and thankfully is ready now to help us in September and in the postseason."

Rome added that Tucker's agent declined to comment further on Monday.

The one-time Gold Glove Award winner and Silver Slugger's return should be a huge boost to the Astros' AL pennant hopes.

Tucker had arguably his best season in 2023, finishing with career highs in runs scored (97), hits (163), RBI (AL-high 112), stolen bases (30), walks (80), on-base percentage (.369) and total bases (297). He was having another big year in 2024 before the injury and is still second on the team in walks (46) and third in home runs (19) and stolen bases (10) despite being limited to 60 contests.

The loss of Tucker was massive, but Houston's actually played much better since the former fifth overall pick went down.

They were 27-34, in third place in the AL West and seven games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners when Tucker got injured. After falling to the lowly Chicago White Sox on June 18, the Astros were 33-40 and a season-high 10 games behind the division leaders.

They've gone 42-22 since then and are now on top of the division at 75-62, six games up on the Mariners.

Rome wrote that Brown said on Sunday that the lefty-hitting slugger could "potentially" return to the major-league roster on Wednesday or Thursday. The insider also noted that Tucker is "taking live batting practice off minor-league pitchers, participating in outfield defensive drills and accompanied the Astros to Cincinnati" for the team's three-game road set against the Reds that began on Monday.

Brown's possibly misleading comments on Tucker's injury isn't a good look for Astros brass, but if the 2015 draft pick comes back producing as his usual self, Houston should be in good shape for yet another deep playoff run.