JUPITER, Fla. - Five days after admitting he played through knee pain all of last season, Yordan Alvarez was a late scratch to the Astros’ Grapefruit League lineup against the Cardinals with knee soreness on Tuesday.

Alvarez originally was slated to play left field, which would have been just his second game action in the outfield this spring.

“He was a little sore today, so we didn’t want take a chance on him missing any extended time,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “… We’ll just give him a couple days to get over some soreness. He’s OK.”

Baker didn’t seem concerned about any long-term effects to what he’s, in the past, termed as Alvarez’s knees “barking.”

“He’s working on it,” Baker said. “The trainer just thought it was precautionary for him to skip a couple days.”

Despite winning the American League Rookie of the Year and clubbing a team rookie-record 27 home runs, Alvarez appeared hobbled much of last season. Originally, it was thought Alvarez suffered an injury when banged a couple foul tips off his left knee. Last week, Alvarez said he had the pain before those incidents although he couldn’t point to a specific moment that caused the pain.

Alvarez - who was mostly the team's designated hitter last season, making just 10 appearances in the outfield - has said he’d like to play more outfield. This spring, he’s played four innings in left field, but has yet to have a ball hit to him.

“I know he wants to play (in the outfield), and we want him to play, but it won’t do any good if he’s sore and he can’t play outfield or DH,” Baker said.

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