The Casual Fans Guide to Jose Altuve

You wanted something exciting Astros fans, here it is. With the trade of Jeff Keppinger the Astros found they had a need at second base instead of giving a guy like Matt Downs the opportunity they've decided to call up one of the Astros top prospects Jose Altuve.

If you had any interest in the All-Star festivities you may of seen that the second baseman from Venezula started for the world team and went 2-3 with a double and a single. He was also mic'd up for the event. The World team ended up losing 4-6 to the U.S. squad but several people came away impressed with Altuve. 

Altuve was signed by the Astros on Sept. 27, 2006 (yes a Tim Purpura era player) out of Venezuela. He speaks English and Spanish fluently and his nickname is Mighty Mouse. Remember it, learn it, love it.

According to this tweet, Jose Altuve is the fastest player to make it from the JetHawks to the Major Leauges, 50 days.

Minutes before he appeared in the dugout his Wikipedia page went up on the internet.

Thanks to Minor League Splits I've done some calculations on Altuve's Minor League numbers to determine what he would be doing at the Major League level thanks to their Minor League Equivalency calculator. At Lancaster the Astros high-A affiliate he batted .408/.451/.606 at the majors that would of been a .267/.301/.377 slash line, not great. He got even better after his promotion batting .361/.388/.569 at Corpus Christi the Astros AA affiliate, which results in a .295/.317/.444 slash line at the majors, for a 21 that is absolutely outstanding. 

If you're wondering why the numbers are better at AA as opposed to A+ where he had the better slash line it's because Lancaster is considered a hitters park in the high altitude of California. They call Lancaster's home ballpark "The Hanger" for a reason, baseballs are taking off everywhere. 

Statistically he's a lot like Jeff Keppinger he doesn't strike out a lot and takes a walk from time to time. He probably will strikeout a little more than Keppinger but he'll also provide a little more power than Kepp. His defense is yet to be determined but scouting reports indicate that he could be good to very good at the second base position. He is definitely going to steal more bases than Kepp, however his success rate is a work in progress. 

Some analysts have started comparing Altuve to the Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia. While statistically Pedroia walks a bit more in his Minor League career it's not out of the realm of possibility that he becomes that type of player and I don't mean just statistically either. Like Pedroia Altuve brings a lot of energy both on the field and off, if you actually clicked on the mic'd up link you'd probably know that.

The excitement and anticipation for Jose Altuve's debut has been amazing and it's not something I've seen or felt since 2007 when Hunter Pence burst onto the scene. Sure Jason Castro and Jordan Lyles debuts were exciting but that's nothing compared to what the hype has been for Jose Altuve. Buckle up Astro fans the season just got a little more interesting....Oh yeah he's also short.