Alvarez expects to be ready by opener
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A day after he resumed swinging a bat, Yordan Alvarez said he still expects to be ready for opening day on March 30 against the Chicago White Sox.
“That’s still the plan,” Alvarez said on Saturday through an interpreter.
“It’s been a little frustrating not being able to get into games the last couple of weeks, but thanks to God, I feel good now and we can start moving forward.”
Alvarez did not swing for the first month of spring training after reporting left hand soreness. He took soft toss in the batting cages on Friday but did not swing at all on Saturday — part of the team’s prolonged plan to build him back up.
It’s still unclear what caused Alvarez’s hand pain, though he did battle something similar throughout last season. Alvarez struck a teamhigh 37 home runs and finished third in American League MVP voting despite whatever hand problems plagued him.
Asked on Saturday whether his hand issues will persist throughout the season, Alvarez replied “I’m hoping it doesn’t continue occurring, but I don’t know.”
Alvarez said his hands are “not an issue” while he’s playing defense. He’s been a full participant in outfield drills and defensive work during spring training, but is still yet to hit batting practice on the field.
Alvarez did not offer any sort of a timeline for hitting on the field, nor did he say how many at-bats he’d like to get in Grapefruit League play. After Saturday, Houston has 15 spring training games remaining before opening day.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of how many atbats, it’s more of when I feel good and feel comfortable in the batter’s box,” Alvarez said.
Whitley shows improvement
Forrest Whitley is fulfilling his foremost spring training goal while generating hope that baseball’s former top pitching prospect is approaching his prior form.
Whitley threw far better than his line indicated during Saturday afternoon’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. He scattered four hits and struck out two across three innings of one-run ball, prolonging an encouraging Grapefruit League showing.
“My goal this camp was to come in (and) fill it up,” Whitley said afterward. “I didn’t think I was going to be extremely sharp the first five, six weeks of camp (while) trying to get all the offspeed stuff in, changeup in, trying to get all the movement profiles back to normal. Being able to fill it up at this point is awesome.”
Whitley threw 38 of his 57 pitches on Saturday for strikes. During his two Grapefruit League starts, Whitley has a 67.3 percent strike rate — reassuring for a righthander that walked 27 batters in 40 innings last season and 6.6 per nine during his final full minor league season in 2019.
Whitley touched 96 mph on Saturday according to the stadium radar gun, but relied far more on his sinking two-seam fastball for four groundball outs. Two of the four hits he surrendered were ground balls that snuck past diving infielders. Minor league second baseman Chad Stevens botched a routine play in the first, too, creating a first-inning mess Whitley wiggled from with ease.
“Compared to last camps, I feel like sometimes when things would get off on the mound, I’d kind of lose myself,” Whitley said. “Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with that quite a bit in my career. Just fought through today’s adversity and I was really happy with how most of it came out.”
A hangnail on his index finger prevented Whitley from having great feel for his slider or curveball in the strike zone, but pairing the sinker with a well-commanded four-seam fastball allowed him to navigate the lineup despite it. Houston’s dwindling rotation depth makes Whitley’s development crucial. Through three appearances, all have to be encouraged.
“Just get the slider and curveball in the zone, changeup in the zone a little bit more and I should be money,” Whitley said.
Wagner among first roster cuts
The ball found Will Wagner during the first inning of his first major league spring training game. New York Mets outfielder Tim Locastro sent a slow-rolling ground ball toward him at third base. Wagner charged the baseball, corralled it and uncorked a strong throw across the diamond to nab one of the sport’s fastest runners.
Afterward, Wagner acknowledged the weight lifted from his shoulders. The play made a 24-yearold prospect believe he belonged in big league camp. Wagner collected two hits that afternoon, too, only furthering the feeling for one of Houston’s best-hitting prospects.
“After that first game, I felt like ‘OK, I’m here now,’” Wagner said. “And I showed well. So I feel comfortable now.”
The Astros reassigned Wagner to minor league camp on Saturday during their first round of position player cuts. Outfielder Scott Schreiber and infielder Joe Perez — who is on the 40-man roster — were also sent to the minor leagues.
Wagner, the son of former Astros closer
Billy Wagner, left after making a nice impression on the major league coaching staff. He finished 4-for-10 with two doubles during Grapefruit League play and acquitted himself well at third base.
“I was just learning from the big leaguers the whole time,” Wagner said on Saturday. “It was cool to have that experience to be up here. Those guys are champions for a reason, so you want to watch their every step. That was my main focus, to be honest, just learning.”
Houston chose Wagner in the 18th round of the 2021 draft. No other 2021 draftee earned an invitation to major league spring training. Wagner slashed .261/.374/.394 in 497 minor league plate appearances last season. He had 11 extra-base hits in the prestigious Arizona Fall League, too, where he worked seven walks and struck out just 12 times.
During a Saturday morning meeting informing Wagner he’d been reassigned, manager Dusty Baker lauded the young lefthanded hitter’s aggression: something the skipper urges from all prospects who get chances in major league spring training games.
“He liked how much I swung,” Wagner said with a smile. “I swing a lot. He was saying to keep being aggressive and playing the way I am.”
Wagner should start his season at Class AA Corpus Christi, where he played his final 72 games last year and posted a .748 OPS. Most of Wagner’s value is tied to his bat and high on-base percentage. He played primarily second base and third base last season, but saw the majority of his spring training action at third.
“He’s an aggressive hitter on that fastball, which is what you like to see on young hitters,” Baker said. “He has a good future because this guy goes up there to hit. There’s some things he still has to work on defensively, but he’s working and getting better.”