Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez took another small step Monday in his return from a fractured bone in his right hand when he hit some soft toss in the batting cage, in addition to hitting baseballs off a tee,

Yordan Alvarez, sidelined since May 2, says he's swinging at "60, 65 percent" as he tries to return from a hand injury.

HOUSTON — With a major-league-high nine position players on the injured list — some of whom are weeks away from a return — the Houston Astros are “prioritizing the bats” before next week’s trade deadline, general manager Dana Brown said Thursday.

Alvarez (hand) was cleared to begin hitting off slow toss Monday, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.

Yordan Alvarez took swings off a tee on Thursday and will try to again on Saturday in return from hand injury.

The Houston Astros are at the All-Star break with the best record in the American League West and exceeding expectations. After an offseason in which they lost

Astros star Yordan Alvarez’s return to the diamond took another snag on Tuesday when he had his hand fracture rehab shut down, which has his status for the rest of this season up in the air.

Beat writer Matt Kawahara answers a variety of Astros questions in his bi-weekly mailbag, including on injuries and the upcoming trade deadline.