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The Houston Astros will want to pencil Jose Altuve into the batting lineup every day.
And after a failed left field experiment last season, the 5-foot-6 former batting champion returns to second base full time this season. All is good, right?
Well, Altuve is having a really, really rough spring.
His Spring Training stats, while fair to not read too much into, are also so bad.
He has had 30 plate appearances and notched just three hits. Those account for two singles and a home run.
Altuve has also struck out 10 times, a higher percentage than he's had at any point in his career.
Yes, it's a small sample, and yes, it's the spring. But Altuve also isn't getting younger, and at some point, a decline might truly arrive.
He'll turn 36 years old in May.
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Last season, Altuve's batting average dropped to .265, the lowest mark he's had in his career besides the COVID-shortened 2021 season.
Altuve's OPS was also its lowest since 2020, so it wasn't just average but also a little underwhelming amount of slugging.
Again, this isn't to say that the Astros have to read too much into Altuve's spring stats. They aren't going to cost him an Opening Day starting job.
This is simply to point out that, if this keeps up, the Astros may run into a dilemma at some point. Given what Altuve has meant to the franchise, they'll never want to push him aside. But someday, that'll happen, and maybe that day is coming sooner than ideal.
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