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So this week we have a new winner! Seems like the last month or so it has been the Correa and Springer show, but this week some old favorites have risen back to the top. On the week the team had a 4-3 record and scored 27 runs. Not quite as prolific as last week, but still almost four runs a game. Whereas last week was tough to choose which guys got the honor, this week was a little easier.
Honorable Mention
Luis Valbuena
When you see this guy in the list you usually think he did his thing...lots of dingers. Not so this week. He was a runner-up this week because he DIDN'T hit any home runs. What did happen this week was some base hits started falling for our all-or-nothing third baseman. He had five hits, and only one of them was for extra bases (a double). He didn't drive in any runs, but he did score twice. Hopefully this is the start of getting something more out of his bat besides the long ball. Not that there is anything wrong with long balls.
Evan Gattis
He almost got the title this week on the strength of his first triple alone. I love Gattis hitting triples! But then he hit another one last night, so I guess this is just going to be a thing now as he leads the team in that category. He batted .364 on eight hits (including the two triples and a double), and had an OPS of 1.008. He also drove in four runs. It was impressive that he only struck out four times in 24 plate appearances. If you only looked at this week's stats you would say "Evan Gattis is a speedy contact hitter with a little pop." Yeah...it made me giggle a bit also.
Winner
Jose Altuve
It is nice to see Jose get back in the groove again. He batted .333, collecting nine hits (including three doubles and two home runs) for an OPS of 1.046. All of this was with a BABIP under .300, which is pretty low for him. Add to those totals four stolen bases on five attempts and seven runs scored. Altuve had a week that we as fans were accustomed to seeing last season. It looks like the hamstring issues that were weighing him down for a couple of weeks are in the past, and the team is reaping those benefits.
With the way he hit last year, Altuve was a big piece of getting this team back under 100 losses. If he can regain that form, he will be a big piece to get them over 90 wins.