You can debate who the best Astro of all-time is, but as far as the greatest Astros of all-time, for me, there is no question. It’s Jose Altuve. There might be other players who have accumulated more WAR, or who have higher counting stats, but there is no one who has contributed more to the greatness of this franchise than Jose Altuve.
Nearly every great memory Astros fans have of the past 12 years has been driven by Altuve. We’ve seen the dominance in his prime years, so at age 36, it can sometimes be difficult to watch an Altuve who has a lot a step in the field, lost some speed to his bat.
It’s been particularly tough in 2026, arguably the worst season of his career, excepting possibly the shortened 2020 campaign. However, in recent weeks, he’s been revitalized, and a resurgent Altuve is going to be critical to the Astros if they want to make the postseason.
Since July 27, when he recorded his 3rd consecutive 0-fer which dropped his season batting average to a season low .228, Jose Altuve has come alive. In the 22 games since, with a .313 BA, .379 OBP, .438 SLG and OPS of .808, for a wRC+ of 130. We may never see 2016-2023 level Altuve again, but he’s not gone entirely.
This recent run lifts his 2026 season wRC+ to 99, which is essentially league average. League average isn’t great; it’s… well, it’s average, but it suffices on a team that only have 4 hitters better than league average (not including injured Carlos Correa).
It also brings him to to 2487 hits on his career. With 31 games left in the season, reaching the 2500 hit milestone before season’s end seems like a foregone conclusion.
3000? That’s going to be an uphill climb. While a resurgent Altuve is important for the Astros to make the 2026 postseason; it’s almost mandatory if Altuve is to reach 3000 hits. Earlier in Altuve’s career, he seemed to be coasting towards 3000 hits. But COVID shortened 2020 to just 60 games. A hand injury in the 2023 World Baseball Classic caused him to miss the first quarter of the 2023 MLB season. Combined, that’s nearly an entire season’s worth of games lost.
Also, as much as broadcasters and fans want to suggest the boos on the road drive him, I can’t help but believe it’s had an effect on him. To have so much hate and vitriol rained down on you for a cheating scandal you didn’t participate in, it has to hurt. It hurts me just to watch. Given the reader base of this website, I know I am preaching to the choir, but I have come out on the other side of the cheating scandal with even more respect for the man Jose Altuve is.
Why didn’t he stop everyone else from cheating? Come on. He’s one guy, and it was a system put into place by the bench coach and the future Hall of Fame veteran specifically brought into lead the young team. There is only so much that Jose Altuve can control.
One of those things was himself, and whether the rest of the world outside the Greater Houston area will admit it or not, there is now mountains of evidence that Altuve didn’t participate in the sign stealing scandal.
What do you call it when a man does the right thing even when everyone else around him does the wrong thing? That’s called integrity.
He never threw anyone under the bus either. Ignorant fans from other fanbases slapped and slapped him and he kept turning the other cheek. One day, I hope they make a movie about Jose Altuve, and I hope they capture the unjust suffering he has had to endure, driven by people’s desire to hate. In the face of all the evidence that Altuve didn’t cheat, the only reason people still think he does is because they want to believe that he did.
So it’s an uphill battle to get to 3000 hits, but I want him to get 3000 so badly. I want that light at the end of this dark dark tunnel he’s been in since 2020 for him.
It will be difficult without a 2027 season, and a potential lockout puts 2027 in jeopardy. There are 3 years left on the 5 year, $125 million deal Altuve signed a couple years ago, and that deal was designed specifically with reaching 3000 hits in mind. It was also designed with the assumption that there would be no lockout in 2027.
Altuve, if he keeps up his 2026 pace, will probably finish with around 127 hits, maybe 130. So let’s say at season’s end he sits at 2515 hits. That puts him 485 shy of 3000. He would need to average about 162 hits a season for the 3 remaining seasons on his contrast. 162 hits a season doesn’t sound so bad for a 31 year old Altuve, but he’s in his age 36 season, and the bat speed and skills are only going to decline further. He logged 156 hits in 2025, and this year will be even less.
If Altuve gets a 1 year deal at the conclusion of this contract, he has 4 years to work with, instead of 3, and that makes it much more manageable. 485 hits over 4 years comes out to around 121 hits a season. Can he do that? That 4th year would be his age 40 season.
As an exercise, I compared Altuve to 3000-hit club member Craig Biggio and to Freddie Freeman, Altuve’s contemporary who also has 3000 hits within reach.
Biggio took through his Age 41 season to get to 3000 hits. Biggio, however, except for that age 41 season when he was worth -2.1 bWAR, was still worth positive bWAR during his run to 3000. Altuve barely is at this point. He was worht 0.6 bWAR last year and with most of 2026 in the books, he sits at 0.2 bWAR.
Altuve’s and Freeman’s career hit trajectories look similar but the difference is the late career trajectory. Freeman continues to produce hits at a good clip, while Altuve’s hits/game has declined each of the last 3 seasons, which is when Freeman passed him in career hits.
Freeman is now in much better position to reach 3000 hits than Altuve is, but if Altuve can continue his performance of the last few weeks, they’ll both make it.
Astros @ Yankees Game Information and Gamethread Details
The Astros start a 3 game series in Yankee Stadium. At 74-56, the Yankees are 2nd in the AL. The Astros capped off a disastrous 3-6 homestand against last place teams by losing the division lead and firing general manager Dana Brown. The Astros are now 65-66 and a half game behind the Rangers.
Ethan Pecko makes his second start of the season. In his first start, he went 3.2 innings, allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, walked 3 and struck out 4. With few other options for the rotation, the Astros will continue to see if they have something they can roll out every 5th day for the stretch run with Pecko.
The Yankees will start RHP Will Warren. He is 8-6 on the season with a 4.43 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. He has a 3.2 BB/9 and 9.0 K/9 on the season.
The game will be broadcast at 6:05 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.
This post will be updated with starting lineup as they are made available.
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Altuve’s skills are wasted in the 4th, 5th. 6th. or wherever hole in the lineup. He belongs in the 2 hole. Altuve has no ego, he is all about his beloved Astros. If you put him in the 2 hole, he knows his job is to reach first base for Yordan, and he will find a way to get there, or move the runners, or both. Slower bat speed or not, he will run like hell to get to first, take a ball in his ribs, hands, or helmet. AH! He can walk and hit too.
The Jim Crane Director of Baseball Operations Era begins