Altuve zips into new year
Bounce-back bid after ugly 2020 includes old attitude, heavy workload
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jose Altuve wandered between two training fields to find his correct batting cage.
With the Astros squeezing 16 live batting practice sessions into one 50-minute window Wednesday morning, players filtered among three fields searching for their destination. Altuve found his on Field 1, where Lance McCullers Jr. stood in wait.
Altuve met manager Dusty Baker behind the batting
cages. McCullers made his way out of the dugout to throw his first warmup pitches while Baker and Altuve conversed behind the batter’s box. Whatever was said made Baker laugh and do his little jig.
“I see him singing, and he has that bounce in his step,” Baker said an hour or so earlier. “He appears happy.”
Altuve entered the bat
ter’s box. He adjusted the bill of his batting helmet twice. He held the bat out toward McCullers, brough it down in a circle and stood in his stance. McCullers fired his first pitch. Altuve swung. He has swung at the first pitch in 41.5 percent of his regular-season plate appearances. Why would this be any different?
Altuve lifted the baseball into shallow center field. He saw a few more pitches against McCullers and righthander Ryan Hartman before continuing his afternoon. The major league team transported to Field 1, where Altuve fielded ground balls and took more batting practice.
“Usually the first couple days are a little more relaxed,” first baseman Yuli Gurriel said through an interpreter, “but right from the first time I saw him, he’s looked super, super focused. There’s a different look about him.”
Anything different from Altuve’s 2020 season sounds delightful for both the player and organization. The Astros’ heart and soul slumped in ways some couldn’t fathom.
Altuve’s .629 OPS ranked 135th among 143 qualified hitters. His defensive meltdown in the American League Championship Series cost the Astros eight runs and, for all intents and purposes, a pennant. There were no noticeable signs of energy or life for one of the Astros’ most gregarious players.
“That’s one thing I have right now is motivation,” Altuve said Wednesday. “I have a group of guys here that encourage each other and go out there and play.
I’m taking everything to be encouragement and motivation right now. I think I like where I’m at right now, and I think I can be the guy the team needs me to be.
“I feel really good. I put a lot of work together in the offseason, and I really think I’m going to do a lot of positive things to help my team win this year.”
For the Astros to accomplish anything, Altuve, the AL’s Most Valuable Player four years ago, must return to something resembling his normal form. Other superstars struggled during the truncated 2020 season, but Altuve’s decline — so sharp and unforeseen — invited wonder whether something more drastic was occurring.
Much of the fallout from the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal came toward Altuve, a man Baker called “mentally strong but also sensitive.” Baker also acknowledged Wednesday that Altuve suffered deaths in his family during last season.
Altuve avoided the topic during his virtual news conference Wednesday.
The offseason affords time to decompress. Altuve seemed to enjoy it, but his problems on the field remained. Last season, he chased pitches outside the strike zone a career-worst 35.2 percent of the time. The major league average is 28.2. At times, Altuve appeared to bat with no discernible approach.
“When you go up there trying to do something instead of just reacting to something, you’re definitely going to be better,” the threetime batting champion said. “I feel like this year I have a game plan. I know what I want to do, and I think that’s going to help me a lot.”
When Altuve’s offense normalized during the postseason, his defense cratered. His three throwing errors in the ALCS gifted the Tampa Bay Rays eight runs. The continued combustion made even Altuve’s harshest critics commiserate with him. In a season full of misery, Altuve’s blank stare and pale face at second base after all three gaffes endured as the most excruciating image.
On Wednesday, Altuve said he spent the winter changing facets of his defense and throwing. He declined to elaborate on the specific adjustments, just that he “definitely changed a lot of stuff.” Without prompt, Gurriel lauded Altuve’s throwing arm twice during his news conference.
“He’s throwing super well, has a really potent arm so far in camp,” the first baseman said through an interpreter. “I’ve been surprised with how good he’s looked.”
Altuve said he took batting practice and worked on his defense more frequently than in any previous winter. He reported to camp Monday. Altuve’s locker is adjacent to Michael Brantley’s.
With George Springer gone, the Astros are reliant on both to play at their peak. Brantley’s consistency cannot be questioned. Altuve lost that benefit of the doubt last year. Before the first full-squad workout, the two teammates had what Brantley described as a “long conversation.”
“He’s in a great mental spot, a great physical spot,” Brantley said. “I look forward to having Jose on my team like I do every year. He’s one of the main reasons the Houston Astros are who we are. I expect big things out of him, and I know he expects big things out of himself. He looks great. He’s running around with a big smile on his face, and that’s exciting.”