THREE STARS
COLLECTIVE PLAY OF ALTUVE, CORREA AND SPRINGER SETTING ASTROS UP FOR SUCCESS
Relax, close your eyes and picture it.
Midseason MVP Jose Altuve literally hitting everything in sight.
Carlos Correa attacking instead of sitting back, hammering line drives and blasting home runs on a rope.
George Springer vacuuming up full-body diving catches in the outfield, then leading off the Astros’ hit parade with hard shots via smooth strokes.
Now open your eyes. Find your local nine near the top of the American League standings. See the connection?
These Astros finally have become who they’re supposed to be. Altuve, Correa and Springer have clicked in unison since the rise from 17-28 began.
The symmetry is not a coincidence. The Astros’ triumvirate has taken over as one for the first time.
“When your better, more notable players … are playing well, it eases the burden off of everybody on the team,” said manager A.J. Hinch, as a highly confident club that won’t stop winning opened a 10-game homestand before heading into the All-Star break.
‘Best player on the planet’
Altuve has been one of the best hitters in MLB for years. Now he’s swimming on Mars.
“Best player on the planet,” said general manager Jeff Luhnow, in a 99.99 percent accurate statement.
Correa was on a first-year Hall-of-Fame pace before the Astros resurrected their season.
But since the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year received his ticket to The Show last June, we’ve rarely seen all three of the club’s most promising young faces lock in at once.
Springer missed two critical months last season due to injury, leaving the Astros’ lineup just as Correa was settling in to major league life. September 2015 was a reminder of the franchise- changing visions to come. But the Astros were fighting the Texas Rangers for the AL West then, and the team was in a monthlong nosedive. When a World Series-hyped 2016 began, Correa slumbered while Spring- er was randomly off and on.
Then the Astros woke up. The starting pitching stabilized at the same time the bullpen zeroed in. The other two-thirds of the lineup stopped swinging for grand slams with the bases empty and started believing in the virtues of a ground-ball RBI single.
But the buzzing energy at the top, the fluidity in the field and the feeling that Luhnow’s Astros really are loaded with young talent for years to come? That all returned when the team’s Nos. 1, 3 and 4 hitters reminded us why they make up three-fourths of Minute Maid Park’s billboardsized outdoor advertisements facing U.S. 59.
These three guys are really good. And as long as the hits keep coming, they’re not going anywhere but up.
“When you have one good player, that player can help you win a ballgame,” said Luhnow, who made sure to credit the rest of the Astros’ lineup for having his Young Three’s back. “When you have two or three good players, it can help you have a good month and a good year and a good run into the postseason.”
Altuve, 26, grinned wide at a giving mound and cracked a surreal .420 average with an absurd 1.112 OPS in June. His superhuman warmth was rewarded Saturday with AL Player of the Month. An Olympic invite should have been included.
Youth is served
Correa, 21, also had his best month of the season: .303 average, 1.024 OPS, five home runs and 22 RBIs.
Springer, 26, only hit .202. But he also blasted five long balls, had 15 RBIs, walked 18 times, recorded 21 runs and made so many circus-like acrobatic catches that July 12 in San Diego won’t be complete without his All-Star presence.
“When we all click and pull in the same direction, it makes everybody’s job a lot easier,” Springer said.
The hardest game in the world looked easy for Altuve during an entire month. Correa came back into his own just when the Astros needed an upward surge. Springer has been flying, diving and firing since April started.
What will the Astros look like when everything finally comes together and Luhnow’s full creation takes center stage?
We’re a couple of years away from that.
But in June we had the best glimpse to date of the true power of the Astros’ Young Three. And as hard as 17-28 to 43-38 was to believe, Altuve, Correa and Springer made the season-saving turnaround make sense.