{"id":229571,"date":"2026-04-01T02:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229571\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:50:10","slug":"zach-cole-out-indefinitely-after-being-hit-by-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/229571\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Cole out indefinitely after being hit by pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston Astros<\/a> outfield prospect Zach Cole<\/a> sustained a fractured toe on a hit-by-pitch at Triple-A Sugar Land that will sideline him for an indefinite period, the team said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Cole fractured the fifth toe on his right foot from the hit-by-pitch Sunday, the Astros said. Manager Joe Espada said Cole was being evaluated by team doctors Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a little bit for him to get back on the field,\u201d Espada said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting some information as we go here. But right now, he won\u2019t be doing a ton as we wait for his toe to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole was among the final position players in contention for a spot on Houston\u2019s opening day roster. The Astros opted to carry prospect Brice Matthews and start Cole at Triple-A<\/a>, emphasizing the need for Cole to make more consistent contact at the plate.<\/p>\n

In a 15-game stint with Houston last season, Cole hit four home runs and posted an .880 OPS, while he also struck out in 20 of 52 plate appearances. The Astros called Cole up in September after he\u2019d played only 15 games at Triple-A.<\/p>\n

The Astros placed Cole on the minor-league injured list Tuesday. Espada said that \u201conce we can get him moving around,\u201d Cole will report to the team\u2019s minor-league facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., to rehab.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Nate Pearson, who was delayed in spring training by an elbow issue<\/a>, faced hitters in live batting practice Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Fla.\u00a0Espada said Pearson\u2019s velocity touched 96 mph during his 15-pitch session and that Pearson will require multiple live BPs before he starts a rehab assignment.<\/p>\n

Closer Josh\u00a0Hader threw a bullpen session Tuesday at\u00a0Daikin Park in his rehab from biceps tendinitis.\u00a0Astros general manager Dana Brown said on opening day<\/a> Hader could face hitters by \u201cmid-April.\u201d Espada did not have a clearer timeline for that Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re day-to-day with Hader,\u201d Espada said. \u201cSee how he feels today and then plan accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski have progressed to throwing off the mound in their recoveries from Tommy John surgery. Blanco has thrown multiple bullpen sessions and Wesneski has thrown one, Espada said. Neither started is expected to return to the majors before the second half of this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Astros outfield prospect Zach Cole sustained a fractured toe on a hit-by-pitch at Triple-A Sugar Land that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-229571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}