Texas A&M outfielder Brett Minnich shares bond with injured Houston Astros baseman Jose Altuve

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For any high-level baseball player, having something in common with a two-time World Series champion and eight-time All-Star is an honor. Texas A&M’s Brett Minnich just wishes his parallel wasn’t as painful.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a good thing to have in common – but any time you share something with a great player like that, it’s special,” Minnich, a Texas A&M senior outfielder, told ABC13.

SEE HERE: Jose Altuve injury: Houston Astros star takes field for 1st time since breaking thumb 55 days ago

One month before Astros star Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch and fractured his right thumb, Minnich suffered nearly an identical injury diving into first base February 17. Like Altuve, his broken thumb – albeit on his left hand – required surgery which he had performed in Houston.

Something else Brett shares with Altuve is returning from the injury quicker than expected.

Minnich was back playing five-and-a-half weeks after his injury, beating the timeline of six weeks. Altuve began his rehab assignment less than eight weeks after his injury – ahead of schedule.

Via Zoom interview with ABC13, Brett dished on the comeback process he shares with the Astros second baseman.

SEE HERE: Astros 2B Jose Altuve (thumb) opens rehab assignment

“Our athletic trainer didn’t want me to go too hard,” Minnich recalled. “I wasn’t allowed to take too many swings one day, to keep me from being pretty sore the next, ” he said.

“But once I got the green light to swing, there wasn’t much soreness or pain swinging. It was just getting back to feeling what it’s like to swing this way and knowing that if you hit a ball off the end of the bat – it’s going to sting a little bit.”

Altuve was given the green light to begin hitting in early May He began his Major League injury rehab assignment with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys May 12.

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