The Fall of Jose Altuve

After the 2019 season ended, Jose Altuve was sitting pretty.

His team, the Houston Astros, had just reached the World Series for the second time in three years. They lost a good one, 4 games to 3 to the Washington Nationals, but Altuve batted .303 and had the most hits in the Series of anyone from either team. That capped an outstanding postseason for him, which was becoming the norm. He hit .329/.366/.605 in 82 postseason plate appearances. That included 5 home runs, one of which walked off the Yankees in Game 6 of the ALCS, clinching the pennant for Houston.

Altuve’s regular season had been interrupted by a hamstring strain in May that cost him 35 games, but he played in all but 3 of the other 127 games on Houston’s schedule and batted .298/.353/.550 while setting a career high with 31 homers. He now had career numbers that were in somewhat rarified air. Altuve turned 29 in May of that season, and at that age the second basemen most similar to him were Ryne Sandberg and Billy Herman, who are both in the Hall of Fame.