Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker, who's been out since June 3 when he fouled a ball off his right shin, revealed Monday that a small fracture was found in his shin, which comes as no surprise considering he's been sidelined for three months. The injury had been called a shin contusion following the initial imagine and testing.

¡°After the swelling and everything calmed down, the continued imaging revealed there was a little fracture in my shin,¡± Tucker said. ¡°I just focused on my rehab from there. Hopefully, I can get back in games in the next couple days.¡±

Tucker did extensive work on Monday and could return this week. He did some running, took swings and did some outfield drills at Great American Ball Park.

Manager Joe Espada said Tucker ran at about 85% of his maximum speed with no issues. The Astros will see how he recovers before making a decision on his return.

¡°We did a ton of work today,¡± Espada said Monday. ¡°He had a really good day. We want him to run the bases again and see how that goes. What he did today, he just checked a lot of boxes. We need to make sure he recovers well. I don¡¯t want to put a date on it. [Wednesday] would be great. But he¡¯s getting close.¡±

Despite playing only 60 games, Tucker earned his third All-Star selection this season on the strength of his incredible start: a .266/.395/.584 slash line with 19 home runs, 40 RBIs and 10 steals. Houston was 27-34 and seven games out of first place at the time of Tucker's injury, but he'll be returning to a much different team: Houston went an AL-best 48-29 since June 3 to take a six-game division lead into Tuesday's off-day.