Houston Astros batter sprints to rehab after injury

Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker, who missed two months with a shin injury, has taken a big step toward a rehabilitation program that would allow him to return to the major leagues.

On Tuesday, media outlets that follow the team, including MLB.com, reported that Tucker was running sprints in the outfield.

How important is that? Well, manager Joe Espada said last week that one hurdle Tucker must overcome is to get to a minor league affiliate to rehab his injury. Tucker stayed behind in Houston last week in what Espada called an attempt to “get him up to speed.”

Sprints in the outfield would be an improvement in this case. But it is not the last hurdle he has to overcome.

Tucker likely did straight-line sprints. In those cases, the player is given a day of recovery to see how his body handles it. If his recovery goes well, he could do another set of sprints or move on to the final step that everyone in Tucker's situation has to handle – running the bases.

In this case, Tucker would run at full speed, probably running from first to third base to simulate a game situation. This would not only test the shin, but also make sure it has the flexibility to make the turn at second base.

It's a mundane step forward, but the Astros and Tucker are willing to take any step forward at this point.

He suffered the injury on June 3 when he hit a ball against his shin. At the time, Houston hoped Tucker wouldn't even go on the injured list. But a few days later, he needed crutches to keep weight off the injury, and Houston placed him on the 10-day IL.

Recovering from his injury has frustrated Tucker and the Astros. Although Tucker was named as an American League reserve for the All-Star Game, he decided to stay in Houston and skip the game so he could continue his recovery.

Two weeks ago, there was optimism in Tampa about Tucker's recovery because of a workout in Tampa Bay. During that workout, he caught fly balls in left field, jogged, ran explosively from side to side and over short distances, and also made crow hop throws.

He's also been taking batting practice over the past week, but until he's able to sprint around the bases, a trip to Double-A Corpus Christi or Triple-A Sugar Land isn't in the cards.

When the 27-year-old right fielder went on the injured list, he had a batting average of .266/.395/.584/.979 with 19 home runs and 40 RBI. At the time, his OPS of .979 was fourth-best in the major leagues behind Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Marcell Ozuna. He was second in the AL with 46 walks and third with a .584 slugging percentage. He also had more walks than strikeouts (41) at the plate.