The quiet success of Jose Altuve

Measuring just five feet six inches, Houston Astros’ second baseman Jose Altuve is not the most imposing figure on a baseball diamond.

When standing next to players such as the 6’8″ Nate Freiman of the Oakland Athletics, Altuve looks like he should be in little league instead of the big leagues.  What he lacks in size though, he makes up with his bat and a hitting ability that just might be one of the purest in the game.

Altuve’s season has been not only stellar given the fact he is on a sub .500 ball club, but also historical.  He is the seventh player in the history of the game to collect 200 or more hits, 50 or more stolen bases, and 40 or more doubles in a single season.

Other names on that list include Ty Cobb who accomplished this feat twice in his career in 1911 and then again in 1917, Tris Speaker and George Sisler.  The last player before Altuve was Hanley Ramirez who accomplished this feat in 2007 with the Florida Marlins.

What is also interesting is that five out of the seven players to do this in their careers were either at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four.  The only two who did it past this age, were Craig Biggio who did it at age thirty-two and Ty Cobb again at age thirty.

Four out of the seven also went onto the win the Batting Title in their respective leagues that year as well, something that Jose Altuve is pace to accomplish this season as well, granted Detroit’s Victor Martinez does not catch up to him.

His actual stat line this season has been .339/.376/.450/.826.  Altuve has 206 hits on the season, 42 of which have been doubles, and 52 stolen bases to go along with this.  He has only been caught stealing 7 times this season and in 607 at bats has only struck out 50 times over the course of this year.

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His style of hitting is not of this era of baseball.  Altuve would probably fit well in the dead ball to early live ball period where there was more of a primer on his type of hitter and base runner ability, not saying that it still a important facet in today’s game.

For one thing though, his career so far has been similar to Rod Carew‘s at this stage.  Through the age of 24, Carew had a career stat line of .307/.353/.421/.775.  Through the age of 24, Altuve has a stat line of .301/.338/.399/.737.

He also has more hits than Carew at this point in his career, 611 compared to 498. He also strikes out less per 162 game average than Carew did, 77 strike outs per 162 games compared to 92 strikes outs per 162 games.

While he is not in the A.L. MVP conversation, Jose Altuve’s numbers do deserve at least a glance before a vote is made.  He is unlikely to win, but this season has been the year that he fully and quietly broke out.

For now he is on pace to take the American League Batting Title and if he finishes with a batting average of .340 or higher, he will be just the sixteenth player since 1947 to bat .340 or higher in a season before turning twenty-five.

Other names on that list include Al Kaline who accomplished this feat at twenty and Tony Gwynn.  Altuve’s season to sum it up has been one in the company of greats and with each at bat he is quietly carving his own legendary path.