MLB

Jose Altuve Is the Best Player Ever for His Size

Altuve is on pace to have the greatest season in baseball history by a player his size or smaller.

Everyone knows Houston second baseman Jose Altuve is really good. But not many people realize just how good he really is.

Altuve has been the best second baseman in baseball for three years now. In 2014, he had a 4.8 fWAR, batted .341/.377/.453, stole 56 bases, and had a wRC+ of 134. Damn good, right?

In 2015, he hit .313/.353/.459 with a 120 wRC+ and an fWAR of 4.3, but saw his homers rise from 7 to 15 and still swiped 38 bags. Totally great.

This season, it's more than jumped up a notch. In 514 plate appearances, Altuve is batting .365, with a .431 on-base percentage, and an eye-popping slugging percentage of .572. He has 19 home runs and 26 steals, has scored 85 runs and knocked in 71, has a wRC+ of 169 and an fWAR of 6.2.

In Houston's 15-7 romp over the Minnesota Twins last night, Altuve followed up a 4-for-4 game with a 4-for-5 effort in the first game of the doubleheader. He also played in Game 2, a 10-2 win over Minnesota, where he only went 1-for-4. What a slacker.

This is one of those really fun posts to write, because all we have to do is present the numbers and watch your mouths drop open.




Now, batting average isn't as revered a stat as it used to be, for good reason. A player who bats .320 but only gets on base at a .340 clips is not as valuable as a player who hits .280 but gets on base at a .360 clip. Getting on base is the key. But there is something special about winning the batting title, and no matter what you think of batting average as a statistic, how Altuve is running away with the batting title in the American League is breathtaking.

Name Team Batting Average
Jose Altuve Astros .365
Yunel Escobar Angels .317
Xander Bogaerts Red Sox .314
Mike Trout Angels .313
Mookie Betts Red Sox .312
Jose Ramirez Indians .309
Miguel Cabrera Tigers .308
David Ortiz Red Sox .307
Manny Machado Orioles .306
Victor Martinez Tigers .305


I mean, that ain't even close, guys. But Altuve also leads the American League in OBP (.431), hits (164), wOBA (.421), and wRC+ (169). He is second in OPS (1.003), trailing David Ortiz (1.013) by one-hundredth of a point, and perhaps most incredibly is second in slugging (.572), again behind only Ortiz (.612). And he's third in the American League in fWAR (6.2) behind only Mike Trout (6.6) and Josh Donaldson (6.3).

Altuve is also batting .450 since the All Star break. That's 45 hits in 100 at-bats.


Most surprising this year has been Altuve's increase in power. The dude has always had a little pop, but look how it's grown since his rookie season in 2011.

Year Plate Appearances Home Runs ISO SLG
2011 234 2 .081 .357
2012 630 7 .109 .399
2013 672 5 .080 .363
2014 707 7 .112 .453
2015 689 15 .146 .459
2016 514 19 .207 .572


One thing has become clear. Jose Altuve is one of the greatest "small" players in baseball history, and he's on pace to have the best season of any player who stands less than or equal to 5'6" and 165 pounds.

Rk Player WAR/pos Wt Ht Year Age Tm HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Joe Sewell 7.5 155 66 1923 24 CLE 3 109 0.353 0.456 0.479 0.935
2 Jose Altuve 6.9 165 66 2016 26 HOU 19 71 0.365 0.431 0.572 1.003
3 Phil Rizzuto 6.7 150 66 1950 32 NYY 7 66 0.324 0.418 0.439 0.857
4 Donie Bush 6.4 140 66 1909 21 DET 0 33 0.273 0.380 0.314 0.694
5 Jose Altuve 6.1 165 66 2014 24 HOU 7 59 0.341 0.377 0.453 0.830
6 Joe Sewell 5.9 155 66 1926 27 CLE 4 84 0.324 0.399 0.433 0.832
7 Tommy Leach 5.9 150 66 1902 24 PIT 6 85 0.278 0.341 0.426 0.767
8 Phil Rizzuto 5.7 150 66 1942 24 NYY 4 68 0.284 0.343 0.374 0.718


Cleveland's Joe Sewell put up a 7.5 WAR season in 1923 for the Indians, but Altuve's 6.9 rWAR (Baseball Reference calculates Altuve's WAR at 6.9, while FanGraphs has it at 6.2) is right behind, and Altuve still has another month and half to pass him. His 19 homers, .365 batting average, 1.003 OPS, and .572 slugging percentage are already the most by any player his size or smaller.

Altuve has slowly become one of the best players in the league and is certainly in the conversation for American League MVP in 2016, proving he's not just a great "small" player.

He's just a great player, period.