Altuve cleared for return from virus IL
MLB has cleared Astros second baseman Jose Altuve to return from health and safety protocols, manager Dusty Baker said Friday.
Altuve was one of five Astros placed on the injured list for health and safety protocols April 14 and is the only one who has yet to return to the team. Baker said that while he hopes to see Altuve at Minute Maid Park for Friday night’s game against the Angels, he is not sure when Altuve will be back in the lineup.
“I don’t know when we’ll realistically activate him,” Baker said.
Earlier this week, Baker described Altuve as being in “good spirits” despite his absence. While awaiting his return, Altuve has been able to run, lift weights and hit off of a tee. He likely will need time to readjust to a normal workout routine before being activated.
Carlos Correa on Thursday became the latest Astros player to replace Altuve atop the batting order. Correa had two hits, three runs and two RBIs in the Astros’ 8-2 win.
Correa said he ran into Altuve at the ballpark Friday afternoon a few hours before game time.
“He went straight to the cage,” Correa said. “I can’t wait to have him back in the lineup.”
Emanuel eager for MLB debut
Facing the possibility of making his big league debut Friday, Astros lefthander Kent Emanuel described feeling the typical mix of excitement and relief, but there was one emotion that seemed out of place.
“Obviously, I was excited. Like I said before, there was a sense of relief as well, and then I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a little bit of anger stirred up there, knowing that this should have happened earlier,” he said. “And I had part of that taken away from me.”
Emanuel, who was drafted in 2013, has never appeared in a major league game. He was suspended for 80 games in August 2020 after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance called De hydro ch lo rm ethyl testosterone—more commonly known as oral turinabol. Emanuel has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing while advocating for MLB to initiate a 100 picogram threshold, which would eliminate automatic suspensions for players who test positive for a banned substance under that amount.
So if he gets on the mound against the Angels on Friday at Minute Maid Park, it’ll be with an axe to grind.
“I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and put number zero (on my jersey) to represent the number of games I deserved to be suspended,” Emanuel said. “I plan on wearing this number until some changes are made to fix the problem. There’s innocent players getting in trouble for stuff they really can’t control.”
The Astros called Emanuel up from the alternate training site to take the roster spot of righthander Nivaldo Rodriguez, who was optioned postgame Thursday night.
The 28-year-old Emanuel has a career record of 35-25 in the minors with a 4.77 ERA. In 2019, he posted a 3.90 ERA in 1012⁄3 innings with Class AAA Round Rock. He posted a 1.08 ERA in 81⁄3 innings in four spring training games this season.
“A lot of time and energy and effort went into this,” Emanuel said. “Arm injuries, a suspension, a pandemic. I mean, it’s been a pretty crazy journey for me, I think. Not many guys hang around for this long and then get called up. So, yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
Astros rigthhander Zack Greinke was scheduled to start Friday, but Emaunel’s parents were at Minute Maid Park hoping to catch their son’s big league debut. “I love to compete and throw up zeroes, so it doesn’t matter what level of play you’re at,” Emanuel said. “If you’re out there on the mound, you want to throw up a zero. So I’m just going to try and do that as often as I possibly can.”