Houston Astros' Star Altuve Is Having His Best Offensive Season in Years

Houston Astros superstar José Altuve is in the middle of his best offensive season in years, and maybe even the very best of his Hall of Fame career.

Leo Morgenstern | Jul 19, 2022

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Houston Astros superstar second baseman José Altuve was named to his eighth All-Star team this year. He has been an All-Star in eight of his twelve big league seasons, and he has missed just one All-Star Game since 2014.

Among this year's All-Stars, only five have been in more Midsummer Classics than Altuve: Mike Trout, Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, and honorary selections Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera.

In other words, starting at second base for the American League All-Star team is nothing new for Altuve. Been there, done that.

He will sit out of this year's game, but the point remains. Altuve has been one of the very best players in the sport for over a decade now. So long, in fact, that it almost seems commonplace. It's easy to take an athlete like Altuve for granted when he has been so consistently good for so long.

But what Altuve is doing this season is not commonplace. Far from it. In fact, the future Hall of Famer may be in the midst of the very best offensive season of his incredible career.

BACK-TO-BACK. pic.twitter.com/1S7xpcCjNm
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 2, 2022

Altuve's .275 batting average is uncharacteristically low, but his on-base percentage is the highest it's been since 2018. He is walking more than he ever has before.

His .518 slugging percentage makes this just the fourth time in his career Altuve has slugged higher than .500. He is on pace to surpass his career high in home runs too.

All of that is impressive to be sure. But what is really outstanding about Altuve's performance this season is not just his raw numbers, but how those numbers stack up against the rest of the league.

Offense continues to be down league-wide this season, especially in the American League. The average OPS in the AL this year is .701, while in 2021 it was .731. In 2017, Altuve's MVP season, it was .753.

Altuve has continued to hit at an elite level in a depressed offensive environment, and that is what is making his 2022 season so special. His performance compared to his peers is truly elite.

José Altuve sprints to third base in a game against the Los Angeles Angels. — José Altuve sprints to third base in a game against the Los Angeles Angels / © Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Weighted runs created plus (or wRC+ for short) is a comprehensive hitting metric that synthesizes everything a batter does at the plate into one nifty statistic. It is also adjusted for league average performance.

That means this stat doesn't just show how well a player has hit, but how well he has hit compared to those around him. This makes it particularly helpful for comparing players from one season to the next.

Altuve has a 155 wRC+ in 2022. The only year of his career in which he did better was 2017, when he had a 160 wRC+. So, compared to league average, Altuve is hitting nearly as well this year as he did when he was voted the very best player in the league.

Deserved runs created plus (DRC+) is a metric similar to wRC+. It is another attempt to measure a player's complete offensive production, and it is also adjusted for league average.

According to this statistic, Altuve is having the best offensive season of his career. His 139 DRC+ is a little bit higher than his 138 DRC+ in 2017 and his 134 DRC+ in 2016.

Moreover, per xwOBA, a metric from Statcast that measures quality of contact rather than actual results, Altuve is hitting the ball better this year than he did in 2017. His xwOBA this season is .369, while in 2017 it was .360.

By barrel rate, another Statcast metric, Altuve is hitting the ball better this year than ever before. His 8.3% barrel rate is significantly better than his 6.2% barrel rate from 2017.

In other words, not only is Altuve producing at an elite level, but he has earned that production by making high-quality contact in his at-bats. It may not be a foregone conclusion that he is having the best offensive year of his career, but there is clearly a case to be made that he is.

José Altuve smiles as he jogs off the field at Minute Maid Park. — José Altuve smiles as he jogs off the field at Minute Maid Park / © Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It's easy to take a player like Altuve for granted after so many years of excellence. It's fun to get excited about shiny new toys like Yordan Álvarez and Kyle Tucker. But Altuve remains one of the very best hitters in baseball, and at 32 years old, his bat is still as powerful as it ever was.

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Published Jul 19, 2022

LEO MORGENSTERN

Leo Morgenstern is a writer for Inside the Astros and Inside the Phillies on Sports Illustrated. His work has also appeared on Pitcher List, Baseball Prospectus, and SB Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @morgensternmlb.