Astros Not Wavering on Jose Altuve in Left Field Despite Latest Error Against Twins

Even after the error committed by Jose Altuve against the Minnesota Twins, the Houston Astros still believe this position change will work out.

Apr 1, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros left fielder Jose Altuve (27) walks off the field during the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Daikin Park / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

It's been a bit of a roller coaster for Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros in their series against the Minnesota Twins.

Coming off their sweep against the San Francisco Giants, the Astros were able to bounce back by securing a win in Game 1 of their set with the Twins. But it wasn't due to Altuve, since he struck out five times for the first time in his career.

The second contest was better for the future Hall of Famer at the plate, blasting a solo shot in his first at-bat to get things going and finish with three hits on the day. However, Houston wasn't able to secure back-to-back victories, and the new left fielder committed an error in the field.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, with the Astros leading 1-0, Ty France hit a single to left that should have loaded up the bases. But when Altuve tried to transfer the ball from his glove to his hand, he fumbled and allowed Byron Buxton to score from second base.

Despite that, Houston is still confident the Altuve experiment in left will work.

"The routes and the fly balls, the tracking, the whole entire thing, he's looking more comfortable and comfortable every day," manager Joe Espada said, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

It's too early to get a read on his value compared to the rest of Major League Baseball based on advanced tracking sites like Baseball Savant, but the Astros seem fully committed to making this transition function no matter what happens during the early going.

With that comes growing pains, and players on other teams also know that, as well.

"I know he's new out there, so I wanted to be a little bit aggressive," Buxton said.

Altuve says he just rushed things since Buxton is a fast runner, believing he did everything else right besides correctly transferring the ball from his glove to his hand and getting it into the infield.

That could be the case, but those are simple plays that can't become errors at this level.

If this experiment doesn't work, it won't be for a lack of trying, though.

"We're putting in a lot of work, and we're working on everything now: fly balls, line drives, groundballs. I'm feeling slowly better out there. You can tell by the way I've been catching fly balls. I think at the end we're going to keep working and keep getting better," Altuve added.

Houston is going to keep him in the grass unless something goes drastically wrong.

One error isn't going to deter them, even if it was an alarming one for those outside the clubhouse.

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