Hot-hitting Altuve voted AL’s top player for June
What makes being named the American League Player of the Month special for Jose Altuve is it came on the heels of the Astros putting together their best month in nearly 40 years.
“You don’t want to win player of the month and lose 20 games in that month,” said Altuve, who becomes the team’s first monthly winner in the AL. “We played really (well), I won player of the month, and I hope somebody else wins the next one so it can help us to keep winning games.”
The Astros went 18-8 in June, giving them their most wins in the month since 1989. The winning percentage (.692) is second in franchise history — the 1979 Astros went 20-8 (.714) in June.
Altuve hit .420 with a .492 on-base percentage and .620 slugging percentage over 100 at-bats in June. His batting average is a franchise record for the month.
In addition, he had six doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and six stolen bases in the 26 games.
Altuve, who will head to his fourth All-Star game, is the first player in club history to win the monthly honor since Lance Berkman was named National League Player of the Month for May in 2008.
“I felt like I was hitting the ball good,” said Altuve, whose streak of reaching base safely ended Friday after 32 consecutive games. “You can feel it when you’re getting on base, and that’s why I was so sad (Friday) because … you want to keep getting on base and keep helping your team.
“But it was a good day anyway because we won the game, and that’s all that matters.”
Altuve has led an Astros charge that started May 1. The team is 36-21 since then and owns the third-best record in the AL during that span. The Astros closed June winning 10 of 11 games.
“It was a big month for us,” Altuve said. “To be player of the month in a month when the team was winning, it’s even better. At the end of the day, what matters is the way we’re playing.”
International pool gets larger
On the first day of the new international signing period, the Astros substantiated the expected by blowing past their $2.197 million allotment.
The team on Saturday signed the first 12 players of their 2016-17 class, a group of 16-year-olds headlined by Freudis Nova, a righthandedhitting shortstop from the Dominican Republic. Nova, the fifth-best player in the class according to Baseball America, com- manded a signing bonus of $1.2 million.
Venezuelan shortstop Yorbin Ceuta and Venezuelan righthander Angel Macuare were the next most-touted Astros signees. Ceuta, inked to a $1 million bonus, was ranked 11th by Baseball America, and Macuare ($695,000) was ranked 40th.
The Astros also injected into their system two other shortstops, a second baseman, three other righthanders, two catchers and a center fielder.
Each of their signings hailed from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. All 12 will report to the Astros’ complex in the Dominican but won’t make their pro debuts until next year.
The Astros plan to continue to add players until the end of this international signing period, which runs through June 15. Their classes have averaged about 40 players a year.
This is the first time under fifth-year general manager Jeff Luhnow the Astros have exceeded their bonus pool, which means they will not be able to sign a player for more than a $300,000 bonus in each of the following two international periods. Ten teams are operating under that penalty for this period so the Astros decided to try to capitalize on the thinned competition pool.
“We feel great about the class and we feel very fortunate that ownership and Jeff and the front office have given us resources to go over our pool and pursue these players,” said Oz Ocampo, the Astros’ director of international.
Nova, the marquee name in the Astros’ class so far, was previously linked to the Miami Marlins before reportedly testing positive for steroids in February. Ocampo said the Astros conducted their own physical and medical assessments of Nova and were comfortable signing him based off all the information they collected.
Ocampo called Ceuta one of the best pure hitters in the class and said the Astros were especially impressed with his performance in games. Macuare is a 6-3, 185-pound righthander with a fastball that already ranges from 90 to 94 mph and a power curveball, according to Ocampo.
The Astros’ first group of signings did not include any Cuban players despite multiple reports in April indicating the team agreed to commit $3.5 million to sign 22-year-old Cuban shortstop Anibal Sierra.
Ocampo said he could not comment on those reports.
McCullers on tap to start Monday
The Astros’ rotation for their series against the Seattle Mariners, which begins Monday, will be Lance McCullers, Dallas Keuchel and Mike Fiers, manager A.J. Hinch said.
McCullers returns after missing one start because of a blister on his right index finger.
“I really do believe we were ultra-conservative even to the point of babying him a little bit,” Hinch said of the 22-year-old righthander. “He probably didn’t need to miss as many days as he did.”
The move, however, was to not disrupt the rest of the starting rotation. Fiers started Friday on an extra day’s rest (the Astros had a scheduled day off Thursday), and the same will happen with Doug Fister on Saturday and Collin McHugh on Sunday.
“Rather than just push everybody back, we pushed Lance to Mon-- day,” Hinch said. “But he’s clearly ready to pitch.”
Scott Feldman made a spot start in place of McCullers on Tuesday and hasn’t been ruled out as an option to start again before the All-Star break. Hinch hasn’t announced his rotation for the Astros’ four-game set against the Athletics to go into the break.
Catcher traded to White Sox
The Astros on Saturday traded light-hitting catcher Alfredo Gonzalez to the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations.
Gonzalez, 23, was designated for assignment June 25 to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for first baseman A.J. Reed.