The Houston Astros are about to get a lot healthier.
Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz, and Ronel Blanco are all moving toward returns, with Brown’s arrival the most imminent. The right-hander, who finished third in AL Cy Young voting last season, made his final rehab start Wednesday at Triple-A Sugar Land, throwing five innings and 78 pitches while touching 98.6 mph. Brown is confirmed to start Tuesday against the Tigers at Daikin Park, facing former rotation-mate Framber Valdez.
Diaz, the Astros’ primary catcher, could also return during the Tigers series. Sidelined since May 4 with a left oblique strain, Diaz has played in three minor-league rehab games with Triple-A Sugar Land and is scheduled to catch nine innings Sunday with Cristian Javier starting. If that goes well, Espada said, Diaz could be activated as soon as the Detroit series begins Monday.
“If that goes well, we could see him in that series against Detroit,” Espada said.
Christian Vázquez has handled primary catching duties in Diaz’s absence during a stretch in which the Astros’ pitching has stabilized. How playing time breaks down when Diaz returns will depend on how he responds after a long layoff.
“We have to see how Yainer reacts, because as a catcher swinging, catching, receiving, throwing, how often I’m going to play him just depends a lot on how he feels,” Espada said. “And also, I’m going to take into consideration how well Christian has played. Christian is a really good catcher and keeping them both healthy is important for us.”
Brown worked with Diaz in 27 of his 31 starts last season. Their reunion could come as soon as next week.
On a longer timeline, Ronel Blanco threw a 42-pitch simulated game this week and is on track to make his next outing in a Florida Complex League game. Blanco, who posted a 2.80 ERA over 167â…“ innings in 2024 and threw a no-hitter that season, had Tommy John surgery last June. The Astros have not set a return timeline for Blanco, nor for Hayden Wesneski, who had Tommy John surgery last May and is slightly behind Blanco in his recovery.
“He’s also progressing well, just not as fast as Blanco,” Espada said of Wesneski.
The Astros open the Detroit series Monday at Daikin Park.
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