Altuve’s AL leaders trust ‘the process’ after darkest days
Astros credit analytics, draft for turnaround in market where TV ratings hit zero
HOUSTON— During the lean years, Jose Altuve played for himself.
It’s not that the five-time all-star was selfish early in his Astros career, but Houston averaged 106.5 losses a season between 2011 and 2014, and as the losses mounted playing to win felt futile.
So Altuve played to improve, hoping his team would, too, and that he’d be here to enjoy the team’s success, whenever it came. Whenever is right now. Houston entered Saturday with the American League’s best record, and Altuve has morphed from a bright spot on a downtrodden club to the best player on one of MLB’s elite teams. Even as he has raised his game this season the club has kept up, just as Altuve hoped they would during those 100-loss seasons.
“I was always thinking about being a good player, but here (in Houston),” says Altuve, who led the majors with a .365 batting average before Saturday night’s home date with the Blue Jays.
“I never wanted to get traded. I never wanted to go anywhere else. I believe in the process. I believe in what they were doing.”
These days the Astros have MLB’s second-best record, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers, and have enthralled a football-obsessed market.
Fans routinely line up outside Minute Maid Park five hours before the game’s first pitch, and through Friday home games had averaged 30,723 spectators.
In 2013, the team drew just 20,394 per home game, fourth-worst in the majors. And the TV numbers were even more anemic.
In September 2013, a game between the Astros and Cleveland drew a 0.0 Nielsen rating in Houston, meaning it’s possible that literally nobody in the market tuned in. Early in the 2014 season they put up another 0.0.
But while hometown fans tuned them out, the Astros turned bottom-of-the-table finishes into top-of-the-draft selections that have invigorated the club.
In 2011 they picked outfielder George Springer, and the following June they selected shortstop Carlos Correa, both future all-stars.
In 2015, they drafted shortstop Alex Bregman, who now plays more at third base but is filling for an injured Correa and had 13 home runs entering Saturday.
Manager A.J. Hinch arrived the same year, and says by then the club had already begun overcoming the inertia of previous losing seasons.
He calls this year’s success the culmination of a commitment to both analytics and hands-on knowledge.
“We will always be known as an analytical-driven team,” said Hinch, “but the blend we’ve been able to incorporate — the numbers, the analytics, the progressiveness of the sport.
“Combine that with the chemistry and culture that we have on the field (and it’s) a really good blend, and the wins have come.”
For opponents it often adds up to headaches.
In mid-July the Astros throttled Toronto 19-1 — with Altuve, Springer and Correa combining for nine hits, nine runs and eight RBIs.
The clubs met again Friday with Correa and Springer both out with injuries, and Altuve taking a rare night off. Houston still banged out 18 hits in a 16-7 win.
“You just have to look at what they’ve been doing all year,” said Jays manager John Gibbons.
“They’re young, athletic, and it’s a hitter’s heaven here (at Minute Maid Park).”
Altuve returned to the lineup for Saturday night’s game, eager to extend the momentum he’d built up in July, when he batted .485 with four homers and eight stolen bases. But he says the biggest difference between 2017 and previous seasons is that he finally has a chance to put up big numbers for someone besides himself.
“Now, when the team’s really good, you don’t think about yourself like you did before,” Altuve said.
“Now we’re here. This team is good. Let’s win games.”