Astros' Yordan Alvarez Could Be Out into July amid Oblique Injury Recovery

The Houston Astros are preparing for Yordan Alvarez to miss multiple weeks after he was placed on the injured list Friday with an oblique injury.

Appearing on Sportstalk 790's The Sean Salisbury Show, Astros general manager Dana Brown explained it will likely take at least two weeks to get Alvarez back to baseball activities but they "don't want to rush or put a timeline" on his recovery.

The Astros announced Alvarez was experiencing right oblique discomfort when he landed on the 10-day IL. He aggravated the injury during his first at-bat in Thursday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

This is the second consecutive season Alvarez has landed on the injured list. He missed seven games in July 2022 with a hand injury.

Losing Alvarez for an extended period leaves a huge hole in Houston's lineup. The offense was inconsistent this season when the 2022 ALCS MVP was healthy.

The Astros rank 15th in MLB in runs scored (304) and 19th in OPS (.716). Alex Bregman's power output has been way down (.392 slugging percentage).

Alvarez owns a .277/.388/.589 slash line with 17 homers and 55 RBI in 202 at-bats. Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick are the only other Astros with at least 100 at-bats who are slugging over .430 entering Wednesday.

Yainer Diaz has been the primary designated hitter since Alvarez landed on the IL. The 24-year-old has shown promise with a .443 slugging percentage in 88 at-bats, but he's only getting on base at a .281 clip.

Even with some of their offensive struggles this season, the Astros are only 3.5 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West with a 38-29 record. Their pitching staff leads MLB with a 3.28 ERA.

As long as Alvarez doesn't have any lingering effects from the injury when he returns, the Astros should be in the mix with the top teams in the American League for the second half of the regular season.