McCullers has setback, to miss rehab start
Lance McCullers will not make his previously scheduled rehab start Saturday with Class AA Corpus Christi because of what Astros manager A.J. Hinch described as “lingering recovery issues from his last outing.”
McCullers, on the 15day disabled list to begin the season because of a mid-March bout of shoulder soreness, pitched three innings Monday for the Hooks, the first outing of his rehab assignment. The 22-year-old righthander did not throw Thursday or Friday while with the Astros at Minute Maid Park but will play catch Saturday.
“I’m good, man. We’re trying to iron some things out in between (starts) as far as just recovering,” McCullers said. “It’s not a huge story or anything like that. We’re just trying to get me where I need to be.”
The date of McCullers’ next rehab start depends on how the pitcher responds once he resumes throwing. The Astros had not committed to a timetable for McCullers’ return, but the scratched start certainly delays it, even if by only a matter of days.
“He wasn’t sore while he pitched,” Hinch said Friday. “It’s more of a recovery issue.”
McCullers threw 48 pitches in his first rehab start, utilizing his whole repertoire. He was slated to throw three or four innings and up to 75 pitches five days later as he continues to build arm strength. Before beginning his rehab assignment, he pitched in extended spring training games at the Astros’ facility in Kissimmee, Fla.
“Any time you have a spring training plan, which is really what we have here, you have to adjust based on how the player feels,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “His last start, he felt good during the start. The next morning, he didn’t feel quite the same as he had prior to the start, and any time anything is off we’re going to be cautious because he’s still building up his arm strength and durability.”
McCullers is a key cog in the Astros’ rotation, with his power arm adding a dimension the Astros lack without him.
McCullers, the 41st overall pick in the 2012 draft, had a 3.22 ERA over 22 starts as a rookie last season.
Odds and ends
Regarding Minute Maid Park’s new LED lights that have caused George Springer issues on balls hit into the rightcenter field gap, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said Friday, “I think we’re going to work to tweak to make sure that we’re not at a disadvantage when it comes to playing and where the lights are angled or how bright they are and things like that. But most of the issue with the lights come from (the fact that) we have a unique stadium where the lights are a little bit lower than most. We have to adjust to them. The lights can only be adjusted so much. We’ll make the proper adjustments. We’ll get used to it. We’ll make better plays.” …
Every player across the major leagues wore No. 42 on Friday to celebrate the 69th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier.
“I hope our players understand the magnitude of what Jackie Robinson means to not only our game but our society,” Hinch said. “The impact and the doors that were opened by him in our game are hard to overstate.” …
Catcher Max Stassi continues to progress in his recovery from mid-March surgery to repair a hook of the hamate fracture of his left wrist. He should begin playing games, first in extended spring training at Kissimmee, Fla., and then on an official rehab assignment with one of the Astros’ minor-league affiliates in the next couple of weeks, general manager Jeff Luhnow said. The original prognosis for the catcher’s recovery was six weeks.