Houston Astros star Yordan Alvarez seemingly received an encouraging update on Thursday. Alvarez was reportedly on track to face live pitching and was likely nearing a return. On Saturday, however, Astros general manager Dana Brown revealed that Alvarez is dealing with a small fracture in his hand, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

“Astros general manager Dana Brown said Yordan Alvarez has a small fracture in his right hand that’s 60 percent healed,” McTaggart wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “It was found after the inflammation went down. He won’t be swinging a bat for a while but will return in the ‘near future.'”

The updates don't appear to be especially consistent. The good news is that Alvarez could return in the “near future,” but it was reported on Thursday that he was expecting to face living pitching soon.

“Yordan Alvarez said he’ll face live pitching tomorrow, presumably some minor-league guys the Astros bring to Daikin Park. If that goes well, his return could be imminent,” Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported Thursday.

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So what's going on in Houston with the Astros? Did Yordan Alvarez suffer a setback? Will he actually return to the big league ball club soon?

The answers are uncertain right now. There is seemingly no official timeline for Yordan Alvarez's return from injury. The one thing we know for certain is that Houston hopes Alvarez can return as soon as possible. He is an MVP candidate when healthy.

However, the 27-year-old has hit just .210/.306/.340 across 29 games played in 2025. Still, he is a three-time All-Star who has finished within the top 10 of American League MVP voting in two of the past three seasons.

The Astros hold a 31-26 record heading into Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Houston has a half-game advantage over the second-place Seattle Mariners as of this story's writing.