The Astros today have selected the contract of infielder Zack Short. He takes the active roster spot of fellow infielder Luis Guillorme, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. Outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Short. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the moves.
Short, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the offseason. He didn’t make the club out of camp and has been playing for Triple-A Sugar Land this year. He has stepped to the plate 320 times for the Space Cowboys with a strong 17.5% walk rate and 12 home runs. He’s been held back by a .239 batting average on balls in play, however, leading to a .211/.356/.402 line and 103 wRC+.
In the past few weeks, the Astros have lost infielders Jeremy Peña, Brendan Rodgers and Zach Dezenzo to the injured list. That got Guillorme called up to the majors to serve a depth infielder role. Now that Guillorme is following those others to the IL, Short will get a return to the big leagues.
Short has appeared in 221 major league games in his career, mostly with the Tigers. He bounced around to the three infield positions to the left of first base and also had some brief time in the outfield, but hit just .167/.269/.287. He has hit better on the farm, with a .222/.360/.388 line and 105 wRC+ since the minors were cancelled in 2020.
As for Alvarez, his move is simply procedural and doesn’t change anything about his timeline. He was placed on the 10-day IL on May 3rd due to right hand inflammation. His 60-day count is retroactive to that date, so it’s already been 60 days. In other words, he’s eligible for reinstatement at any point. It’s unclear when he will realistically be able to return, however. It was eventually discovered that he has a fracture in his ring finger. It was reported yesterday that he’s still experiencing soreness and will be seeing a specialist to determine his next steps.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
Who’s at short?
Short.
Yes, who’s at short?
Short!
Isn’t it Pena?
Hitting .211 in over 300 bats at AAA and… you promote him??
He’s a body and depth is being tested…
True. He wasn’t even on the major league roster. The only thing that makes any sense is they want Bryce Matthews to stay at AAA and get every day at bats.
Short managed to be a semi-regular with the Tigers a few years ago (while they were vying for the #1 draft pick). I liked his hustle back then; it’s good to see him back.
Gruß,
BSHH
He’s 5’10 so taller than me but on the shorter end for a baseball player.
It will be short lived
13 players on DL. 13….thats crazy!
Astros have 15 players on the IL I think, which is most in MLB
Wow. For some reason I thought Guillorme was a career minor leaguer when he came to the Angels.. I didn’t realize he’d had a couple decent (and bad) years with the Mets before that.
BRICE MATTHEWS waiting…
my guess is they want him to get some mlb playing time to try to send him somewhere in a trade
My guess is its for a “short” stay. He’s solid defensively, won’t play much, and will get DFA’d in two weeks. If he gets claimed, no biggie. Likely, he won’t get claimed and will go right back to AAA, as non roster depth.
i would have called up jesus
balestides
Yeah, not sure why Bastidas isn’t getting a call. He was hitting very well in June especially towards the end. I would imagine they could get him a good amount of playing time if they are concerned about him getting regular ABs.
Hopefully he is up for awhile.
And it’s not a SHORT STOP !!
Might as well have signed Martin short.
Zack did a good job at Detroit. He has some power and real good speed. Can play multiple positions quite well. Has a reputation of being a very good clubhouse teammate.
.
Zack Short is a 3 tooler. He has a very good glove and arm. He has some foot speed. He can’t hit for average, nor reliably for power.
Got home from an early evening out last night, turned on the Astros-Dodgers game and who was at the plate???!!!! Why it was Zack Short!
Good for him.
.174 average how do these guys keep getting work
MLB is really hard. Hitting MLB pitching is really hard.
I’m a Cubs fan and I have a question for Astros fans:
Tucker is a good ballplayer, but to my eyes he has a swing that somehow is too long and too “controlled” at the same time. It looks like he is trying to have perfect form in a way that often results in soft contact. He has a beautiful swing, you could use it in an instructional video–but it too often results in a lazy fly to center. He doesn’t seem to be hitting with his legs, as we used to say, to be putting his weight behind his swings. He has gotten few “big hits” for the Cubs.
I’ve been watching the Astros a lot lately, and I am very impressed by Cam Smith. He reminds me of a young Bill Madlock, with his short, quick, and powerful swing. I think I’d rather have him coming up with the game on the line than Tucker RIGHT NOW, in his rookie season. He is a natural.
You know both players better than I do. What do you think?
People here called Kyle Tucker “Ted”, since his swing wasn’t too far off from Ted Williams. That’s a pretty good comp to have, so you kinda maybe don’t mess with that so much. Great player, might still be in Houston if we didn’t extend Altuve and hand out rancid contracts to Abreu and Montero. Hard to argue against the trade though, even Hayden was doing his part til he got injured.
Thanks. Prediction: Despite the great start that kid has had with the Athletics, Smith will end up getting ROY.
If he was open to an extension he’d still be here. The minute Soto signed that ridiculous deal he was testing free agency