Houston Astros: Jose Altuve earns AL player of the month

Houston Astros all-star second baseman Jose Altuve was given the American League player of the month award for July. And boy did he earn it.

The Houston Astros are missing two of their “Big Three” offensive threats in George Springer and Carlos Correa. But Jose “Mighty Mouse” Altuve has picked up the slack for their loss and then some.

In the month of July, Jose Altuve had an absurd batting average of .485. That’s the fifth highest in any month since 1961 and the highest in 17 years (Todd Helton hit .512 in a month in 2000.)

Altuve led the majors in nearly every batting category in July. Batting average, total bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and then obviously as a result of the leading the league previous two categories, OPS.

He’s adding to his MVP credentials as he is now doing this sans the cog of the Astros offense in George Springer at the top of the order and the protection behind him in the form of clean-up hitter Carlos Correa.

His move to the number two spot in the batting order has not changed his approach nor his success. Altuve keeps proving he is the best hitter in baseball, as evidenced by leading the entire major leagues with 148 hits and a .361 batting average.

He is looking like this generation’s Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs, only despite being much smaller than the aforementioned athletes, providing more pop than those two while hitting at the same pace as them.

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Jose Altuve is even ahead of all-time hit leader Pete Rose‘s pace with 1,194 hits in 3,767 at bats in his first 5.5 years compared to Rose’s 1,109 hits in 3,674 at bats in his first five years. And even if you take out Altuve’s rookie season 234 at bats and 61 hits, he’s still got Rose beat at 1,133 hits in 3,533 at-bats.

While Springer and Correa are emerging as stars, Altuve has been the heartbeat of this team since before they came on-board. Even during our lean years of 2012 and 2013, Altuve was the lone bright spot in what were otherwise ugly seasons.

With Jeff Bagwell‘s enshrinement into the Hall of Fame, reminding us of the job he and Craig Biggio did raising the profile of Houston baseball, we now are seeing a new era for the first time since those successful teams of the 1990’s and early-mid 2000’s.

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Jose Altuve is an extremely special player and we’re damn glad to have him. We look forward to seeing him in Cooperstown some day as well, hopefully after a life long career as an Astro. This historic July of 2017 was just another feather in his cap on his way to doing so.

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