Houston Astros: Jose Altuve’s nightmare season continues
By Manny Gómez
This season has been nothing short of a nightmare for Jose Altuve. Now, the Houston Astros’ second-baseman lands on the IL.
There’s no question that, prior to the sign-stealing scandal, Jose Altuve was on a direct path to Cooperstown. Having spent his entire career with the Houston Astros, the 30-year-old second baseman’s resume includes an MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, an ALCS MVP, and a World Series title.
This season, however, has been nothing short of a nightmare for Altuve, who’s hitting just .224 with a meager .606 OPS. That’s down from his career .312 AVG and .821 OPS.
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Many will speculate why Altuve has seen such a steep drop in production this season. They’ll site the aforementioned sign-stealing scandal and more specifically the buzzer some allege he wore in game six of the ALCS against the New York Yankees.
Perhaps it’s the nightmare the Houston Astros organization has been living since the end of 2019. Since then, the organization has been drug through the mud, having lost their GM (Jeff Luhnow) and manager (AJ Hinch).
Now, to make things worse Altuve was placed on the IL with a right knee sprain, according to Astros field reporter Julia Morales. The move is retroactive to Friday, September 4, and explains why Altuve was removed from the game Thursday in the third inning.
The timing couldn’t be worse for the veteran hitter who’s hitting .308 with a .723 OPS in his last 14 games. It also comes at a bad time for the Astros, who are already without Alex Bregman and are no longer the alpha in the American League.
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Super utility Aledmys Diaz will step in to play second base for the Astros in the meantime. Worse than Altuve, however, this season Diaz is hitting just .176 with a .588 OPS.