Houston Astros Superstar Surprisingly Decides Not to Attend All-Star Game

It’s been an incredible turnaround for the Houston Astros over the past month and a half.

After looking like a shadow of the team that reached the American League Championship Series a record seven straight games, many people speculated, and probably hoped, that this team would finally become sellable at the deadline.

Instead of continuing to falter, they played their way to two games out of first place in the AL West heading into Thursday, and 2.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.

The Astros’ turnaround was largely due to the excellent performances of their star players. Their superstar Jose Altuve was no exception, earning a franchise-record fifth start in the next All-Star Game after being selected to the team for the ninth time.

However, Houston announced that the veteran would ultimately not participate.

As stated in their statement, he is choosing to rest his hand instead of playing another game during a time when players can give their bodies a rest.

The Astros already avoided a major injury when X-rays of his hand came back negative and the injury was just a bruise, however, some of the field reporters got to see what things looked like and It was reported to be very purple.

It’s unclear how this will affect Altuve’s balance sheet.

Since he’s not officially starting this All-Star Game, will it still count as a record?

But that probably doesn’t matter to the franchise legend. He’s clearly putting the team first by opting out of these festivities so he can be ready for the second half of the year as Houston officially pushes for a playoff berth.

In his absence, Texas Rangers star Marcus Semien will start and Minnesota Twins’ Willi Castro has been added to the roster.