Jordan

Schafer

Schafer has been sidelined for nearly two weeks due to a sprained left hand, but he has made steady progress over the past couple of days. The Astros haven’t ruled him out for Opening Day.

It was Schafer’s first live game since he sprained his left hand while making a diving catch on March 18. The 25-year-old center fielder should be ready for Opening Day.

Schafer has done some nice things as the Astros’ leadoff hitter and table-setter, now hitting .261 with a pair of homers, 20 runs scored and 11 steals on the season. His speed makes him a nice fantasy asset, and he should be owned and started in most leagues at this point.

Schafer sprained his left hand making a diving catch during Sunday’s game against the Mets. He has had plenty of issues with his left hand in the past, so the Astros are playing things safe for now.

Schafer hasn’t appeared in a Grapefruit League game in over two weeks due to a sprained left hand, but faced live pitching on Monday and later took batting practice prior to the team’s exhibition game against Double-A Corpus Christi. Nothing is set in stone, but things look promising at the moment.

It will be Schafer’s first game since spraining his left hand while making a diving catch on March 18. It’s fair to say the Astros wouldn’t put him out there if they didn’t think he would be ready for Opening Day.

In his first at-bat, Schafer fouled a pitch off his inner right calf, which required a few minutes to walk off the pain. He should be fine going forward.

The first slam of Schafer’s career came off of an ineffective Chad Billingsley in the second inning, and broke open a 2-0 game. The bomb was already his second of the season, matching his career high from 2009. A speedster with a career .616 OPS entering 2012, Schafer has now reached base in all 16 of Houston’s games, but is still batting just .263/.373/.368. The temptation to add him in mixed leagues is understandable, but the odds are high he’ll prove to be fool’s gold.

Schafer hurt himself when he dove to make a catch. There’s no official word yet on the injury, but we’ll update his status when more is known. Schafer is expected to be the Astros’ starting center fielder this season.

Schafer hurt himself when he dove to make a catch on Sunday and promptly exited the game. Consider him day-to-day.