Jose Altuve is the best Astro ever

With all the stats Altuve is piling up in the post season, he's just putting the icing on the cake. Barring serious injury he is in. Without question. Anyone saying otherwise is trying too hard. I will say I would like him to regain some of the hitting for average. The power works too, but I want him to get 3000 hits and compete for another batting title.

 

Such a beautiful hitter Mattingly was. I am most reminded of him by Brantley, minus the power numbers. Given that we were an NL team during his career, I found it easy to root for for him back in the day.

 

As soon as Altuve started incorporating a high leg kick into his swing, in a direct effort to drive pitches more, he lost the slap hit approach that led to so many base hits. Given the age he was at the time (and of course the results individually and teamwise), I think that was a wise tradeoff. It has been especially beneficial once Springer left. I wonder if the numbers bear out that a power driven Altuve is more productive in terms of W/L and WAR, with this team, than .330 slappy hits Altuve in the leadoff spot. Can anyone elucidate?

 

.330 slap hitting Altuve is a better player. I don't know if he has the bat speed and reflexes he had in his mid 20s anymore to be that.

 

I agree 100%

Also, to a leaser extent, Will Clark was derailed too. He had a nice long career and remained a solid hitter but his power was sapped by the bad back. I think the injury cost him somewhere between 100-150 hr’s.

 

Nomar Similar Batters...

1. Jose Altuve (863.8)
2. David Wright (855.2)
3. Hanley Ramirez (846.8)
4. Joe Gordon (845.2) *
5. Bret Boone (838.3)

...well that was spot on.

But you will hard time convincing me that Nomar did not use roids... which possibly contributed to his body breaking down in a hurry.

 

These are the folks that vote for HOF... need 75% to get in... this may be a problem...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Writers'_Association_of_America#List_of_current_members

 

Never underestimate the gross stupidity of hall of fame voters.
Jeff Bagwell -- seven years
Frank Thomas -- first year

I rest my case.

 

I recognize the whole "Altuve is the greatest because of the postseason" argument--I get it. Altuve has actually become my all-time fave in the past couple of years. He deserves every bit of the acclaim he's getting, and then some (and he deserves none of the hate he's getting...).

But Bagwell was a freaking monster. Bobby spelled out his offensive prowess well (and we haven't seen HeyNow around much lately, but he can enlighten us quite nicely as well). Here's what's crazy: beyond the all-time great offensive contribution, Jeff Bagwell was an insanely great defender--feared. Until his shoulder fell off. :-( And, he was elite on the bases. Before that shoulder caught up with him, he was among the best in the league in all five tools.

Looking back, when one sees the lack of postseason numbers and the hobbled, one-armed end of his career, it's easy to miss. That dude is the greatest baseball player ever to wear H-town colors. And, it's not close.

 

According to Bref, he actually only registered a positive defensive WAR twice... once during his final season despite the eye test... and he had an incredible arm before the shoulder issues to turn the 3-6-3 double plays. He was good in "high leverage" because he did what he needed to do, slap hit or sac fly, but did not engage in the high risk/low reward approach at the plate, so that minimizes his Sportscenter plays.

But he was not the most clutch especially compared to... Yuli... Bagwell's RISP with 2 outs... .266 hitter career... Altuve at .294,Yuli at .292. Bases loaded... Bagwell OPS .866 career... Altuve .792, Yuli 1.279... and these aren't exactly small sample sizes

 

He should have learned to throw left handed. I could throw a softball left handed.

- DD

 

Bagwell was better more consistently than Altuve in the regular season, but Altuve's 2017 regular season and postseason was better than any regular season and postseason that Bagwell had. Postseason games matter. They aren't the only thing, but they matter.

 

Perhaps a hot take on this board, but Altuve was on the 2017 team, where cheating was provably rampant. He deserves at least some of the hate.

But, yes, Bagwell, was our best regular season player, and it's not at all close.

 

Defensive WAR from fangraphs, which is what I assume you're using, is positionally adjusted. Meaning it's extremely hard for a 1B to be positive and very hard for a C/SS to be negative. (Thomas -267, Giambi -233, Thome -200, Palmeiro -145,JT Snow -125, Helton -98, Bagwell -82, Grace -63 just to pick a few)

They only have advanced numbers for his last 3 seasons, and they we're all positive defensively. And according to whatever in the hell formula baseball reference uses, his defense was positive every season of his career except one.

And Baggy had a career .944 OPS w 2 outs RISP and a .981 OPS in high leverage AB's (1.030 in extra innings). Unfortunately Bagwells entire legacy to many was shaped by 48 PA in the late 90s (mostly against Cy Young candidates), not the other 9400

 

Baggy struggled with runners in scoring position. Used to drive me crazy.

 

...what hurts Baggy's rep though is that Albert Pujols did everything he did but better almost immediately after Bagwell's prime. Just straw poll here, but what's more important with RISP 2/outs: AVG, OBP, or SLG? I actually lean towards AVG because of less variability but still scoring one run in all likelihood whereas SLG may inflate effectiveness in those situations. Bagwell apparently has the highest WAR of firstbasemen in the 90s but Raffy, McGwire, Big Hurt, and Mcgriff all were in the spotlight more... including the postseason.

Back to Altuve, he is better than all of his peers in the 2010s... easily. Cano, Kinsler, Pedroia, and Zobrist are waaay behind Altuve. Altuve's performance may also hinder Chase Utley's HOF chances by overshadowing him.
https://www.mlb.com/news/10-best-second-basemen-of-the-2010s

 

Playing 3 more seasons than Bagwell helped Frank Thomas. Being in the 500 Home Run Club and finishing with a career batting avg. over .300 didn't hurt the Big Hurt, either. Neither did the WS ring and the .419 career obp.

 

His OBP was inflated because people weren't gonna pitch to Jeff Bagwell in key situations.

 

That WS ring he played absolutely no role in ?

And yes I'm sure that .301 BA compared to .297 for Baggy made it an open and shut vote.