Alvarez absent
Astros can’t disclose why slugger is out.
Reigning American League Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez is not in Houston for reasons the club cannot disclose because “league mandates” Astros manager Dusty Baker said Friday.
As part of an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players association, clubs are not allowed to disclose the identities of players who’ve tested positive for COVID-19.
The Astros had additional personnel test positive for the virus this week, but general manager James Click did not identify any of them — or whether they were players — on Friday.
Alvarez resided in Florida during the sport’s three-month shutdown. His 27 home runs last season were an Astros singleseason rookie record and led to a unanimous Rookie of the Year win. He battled knee problems throughout the 2019 season and soreness persisted into spring training this February.
“Yordan was working on those while he was in Tampa,” Click said Friday. “There was some good days and some bad days, but the last I heard, he was full, ready to go.”
Houston was one of 19 teams to have an individual test positive for the virus, according to information released by Major League Baseball and the players association. In a joint statement on Friday, the two entities reported 38 positive tests out of the 3,185 total they administered. Thirty-one of the 38 positives belonged to players.
In June, the Astros announced one positive test from a player who was working out at their West Palm Beach, Fla., spring training facility.
Players or staff who test positive for COVID-19 must quarantine and are not allowed to return until they’ve tested negative twice in a 24-hour span, do not have a fever for 72 hours, pass a cardiac exam, take an antibody test and are cleared by a joint committee of physicians appointed by the MLB and MLBPA.
McCullers feels good, will throw a bullpen
Training with no promise of tomorrow is too familiar for Lance McCullers Jr. He spent all of 2019 rehabilitating Tommy John surgery, a grueling, lonely process that sometimes ostracizes a player from his teammates.
When his 2020 return was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, McCullers knew no other way than to forge ahead. He continued throwing once every five days through April, adhering to his normal spring training routine. In mid-May, when it became evident baseball would not be back soon, he scaled back to throwing every six or seven days.
McCullers “de-loaded” in late May and early June, taking two weeks off of game-like simulations before resuming them in June. Now, as summer camp starts and opening day sits three weeks away, McCullers appears far ahead of his fellow pitchers.
“I’m in a very good place mentally and physically. I feel excellent,” McCullers said Friday after the team’s first workout. “I felt great in spring training, but the extra time off, and almost ramping up and then being able to pull it back down to re-ramp, I feel like it’s made me a little bit stronger.”
McCullers will throw a live bullpen session Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
He hopes to simulate three innings. He threw a three-inning live simulated session before summer camp starting, too, against third baseman Alex Bregman. McCullers threw out of both the windup and stretch, kept counts in each at-bat and attacked Bregman as if it were a game.
Saturday, he’s scheduled to face multiple hitters. In an ideal world, McCullers will throw three or four live sessions before the season begins either July 23 or 24.
“I would anticipate, and my hope is, I’d be able to open up the year very similar to a normal season which would be around a 90-pitch count game,” McCullers said.
McCullers’ reemergence could solidify the Astros’ rotation as one of the sport’s best. Reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and heralded deadline acquisition Zack Greinke form a formidable top two. Without an innings limit restricting him, hope exists for McCullers to recreate his 2017 All-Star form — and perhaps exceed it.
“It’s going to be a much different season, so I’m going to do my best to not complain or kind of get caught up in everything going around me or going around us,” McCullers said. “I’m just going to try to put my best foot forward in these games.”