Astros have the best middle infield in baseball, per ESPN's Buster Olney

ESPN's senior baseball writer Buster Olney spending the days before the Winter Meetings, ranking the top players in Major League Baseball by position. In Olney's rankings have two of the top players at particular positions: second baseman Jose Altuve and shortstop Carlos Correa.

Both articles are behind the insider paywall, follow the links here and here.

Altuve was selected first ahead of ahead of the Miami Marlins' Dee Gordon, Cleveland Indians' Jason Kipnis, Detroit Tigers' Ian Kinsler, and Kansas City Royals' Ben Zobrist.

Altuve won his second Silver Slugger this season and his first Gold Glove this past season. He also collected 200 hits the past two seasons.

Olney said of Altuve:

"He is small in stature, listed at 5 feet 6 -- generously -- but is high in impact. In 2015, Altuve again reached 200 hits, including 59 extra-base hits, and he stole 38 bases and scored 86 runs."

Correa was selected first ahead of San Francisco Giants' Brandon Crawford, Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts, Cleveland Indians' Francisco Lindor, and Toronto Blue Jays' Troy Tulowitzki.

Correa was selected as the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year, ahead of fellow top ten list member Lindor.

Olney said of Correa:

He just turned 21 years old and has played only 99 games in the big leagues, and placing him at the head of this distinguished list of shortstops feels aggressive. But the overwhelming response of evaluators who offered opinions for these rankings is that Correa already is the best overall player at this position. "He's a clone of Alex Rodriguez when [A-Rod] was with the Mariners," said one evaluator. "The size, the power, everything."

Also in the top ten of another list was Dallas Keuchel, who ranked No.7 among starting pitchers. Keuchel won the American League Cy Young award this past season.