Kyle

Tucker

He’s DHing and batting cleanup tonight. Tucker missed nearly half the season with an injury the Astros initially insisted wasn’t a broken shin, but recently Tucker confirmed it was a fracture. Nevertheless, Tucker’s return is a welcome sight for fantasy managers who get back a first-round talent for the final month of the season. Jason Heyward and Mauricio Dubón should take on lesser roles now. Ben Gamel will probably keep playing regularly, but he can’t afford to cool off.

At long last, it might be time. The Astros will gauge how Tucker recovers from his pregame work over the last few days and then decide. If he is activated, it will mean that he’ll skip a rehab assignment and will have not taken an at-bat in a game situation in over three months when he steps into the batter’s box for the Astros. He may get off to a slow start, but his return would obviously be great news for the Astros and fantasy managers.

Espada also wouldn’t rule it out. The manager said that Tucker is essentially “day to day,” only instead of having that status on the active roster this is waiting for the outfielder to finally come off the injured list from his fractured shin. Even if it doesn’t come Thursday — and it probably won’t — fantasy managers need to be ready to immediately activate Tucker when he finally does become active.

The fracture wasn’t immediately detected after the injury, and Tucker declined to say when exactly the diagnosis came in. It’s also unclear why he’s been tight-lipped about it and only spoke up after The Athletic reported on the injury today. Regardless, Tucker might finally return from the injury later this week.

Rome reports that three people briefed on the situation stated that Tucker sustained a fracture of his shin. This is in direct opposition of what Astros general manager Dana Brown has reported on Tucker’s injury, but he told The Athletic on Monday that “after several rounds of medical imaging, we suspect there was some type of small fracture.” This is all hindsight now with Tucker likely to return shortly, but fantasy managers have the right to feel irked based on the reporting — or lack thereof — of the injury.

It’s being debated whether to bring him to Cincinnati for the three-game series that starts Monday. If that doesn’t happen, then a return at home Friday against the Diamondbacks appears to be the likely scenario. Tucker’s return could result in the demotion of either Zack Dezenzo or Shay Whitcomb, as neither rookie is playing much at the moment.

It was another encouraging sign after Tucker told reporters Friday that he could potentially return at some point next week without a minor league rehab assignment. He’s been running at roughly 75 percent and added that he’s relatively pain-free after spending a couple months recovering from a painful bone bruise in his right shin. We’re cautiously optimistic that he’ll be ready to return at some point in early September.

Tucker added that he’s running at roughly 75 percent and relatively pain-free after spending the last couple months recovering from a deep bone bruise in his right shin. He also noted that some of his conversations with the team have centered around skipping a minor league rehab assignment altogether in an effort to get back next week and help out Houston’s playoff push. The 27-year-old fantasy star faced live pitching on Friday in a batting practice session and appears close to returning to game action. It’s an encouraging development for fantasy managers with a couple weeks left in the year.

Tucker did some running in the outfield before taking groundballs and throwing to bases as part of a pregame workout. He told reporters afterwards that he’s done some light running on the bases, but is continuing to build up his strength after such a lengthy layoff from running at full speed. It doesn’t sound like a rehab assignment is imminent, but it’s a positive sign that he’s starting to feel better and make some legitimate progress towards returning. Nothing official yet, but we’re cautiously optimistic that Tucker is trending towards making a return at some point in September.

It’s a significant development as sprinting without any lingering physical issues was always viewed as the final hurdle for Tucker to clear before returning to game action. He’s going to require at least a couple games, if not longer, on a minor league rehab assignment given his extended layoff, but it’s starting to look like he’ll be ready to return at some point in September. The 27-year-old fantasy superstar has been on the shelf since early June recovering from a deep bone bruise in his right shin.