"Jose Altuve goes down, gets hit in hand" - World Series winner recalls replacing Astros superstar and impressing with stellar hitting streak

Houston Astros super utility man Mauricio Dubon has played in various positions in front of the catcher in the past few seasons. A pivotal point in his career came at the start of the 2023 season when the regular shortstop took up 2B duties.

During the World Baseball Classic in 2023, Jose Altuve got injured while batting when a wild pitch hurt his hands resulting in him having to be shelved for the first two months of the season. The Astros were likely to make a trade at that point, but Mauricio Dubon convinced them that he could play in center of the diamond.

Dubon opened up on the Most Valuable Agent with Matt Hannaford podcast, narrating the story (from 33:57):

"Funny how that goes. I remember watching the game—he goes down. It was not good. He gets hit in the hand, finger broke. I remember the next day we had a meeting, and I remember Dana—Dana Brown, the general manager — if he watches this, I always remember this. "He comes to the meeting, he says, "You know, Jose goes down, I think we're going to look for options outside of the organization to bring somebody in so he can play second base," while I'm sitting down right there watching him. "I'm like, okay. I'm like, okay. And I told Joe Espada this—Joe’s the manager now, he was the bench coach at the time—and I told him, "You want a freaking second baseman? I'll give you a freaking second baseman."

Mauricio Dubon hit .309 in those seven weeks with the Astros, with a team-high 46 hits, earning prase from the management. After Altuve came back from injury, Dubon was used in various roles.

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Mauricio Dubon finding form in recent games for Astros

A rough start to the season saw Brendran Rogers getting more games in 2B in place of Mauricio Dubon. The utility man was relegated to a bench role after Jose Altuve made a permanent switch to left field.

However, in the past week, Dubon has found form at the plate. He has eight hits, 17 total bases with five extra base hits, including a walk off home run against the Minnesota Twins, which sealed the Astros' sweep over the opponents. Even after the game, Dubon had reinstilled faith in the team's way of getting games out.

“That’s the mentality we have here now, and it’s a great group of guys,” Dubón had said postgame. “If the other guy doesn’t do it, the guy behind him is going to do it. The guy that comes in late, he’s going to do it. We try to pass the baton a little bit.”

It remains to be seen if Dubon is given more responsibility by Joe Espada and Co. as he continues to improve.

Edited by Bhargav