The Jose Altuve Left Field Experiment
People are panicking over a vet taking the spring to learn a new position to help the team be more flexible. We’re here to say: cálmate
Jose Altuve can do anything in Spring Training this year and it would start an avalanche of hot-takes, prognosis and crystal-ball-reading-future-telling from anyone with a pulse that can post an opinion online. So, why should I hang back and let the amateurs have all the fun?
In today’s spring training game, Jose Altuve was chasing down a ball hit over his head to left; he was a step behind and the ball careened off the outfield wall and provided Altuve with a tough lesson in out-fielding. Immediately the hot-take machine began to fire up and people from Reddit to X were offering up their casual-fan-takes and nonsense reactions. After watching Altuve miss a catch I knew exactly how I felt about this. To all the fans spewing reactionary takes, I’d like to give you a loud: cálmate.
This is what Spring Training is for: learning. It’s for taking reps. Jose Altuve’s position change has so many people in their emotions. Let’s look at the supposed timeline of Jose Altuve’s position switch so far this offseason.
At the end of last season the front office reportedly approached the Gold Glove second baseman with a possible opportunity to transition the “Astro For Life” to the outfield. To easier defensive pastures as the star ages.1 The thought here was that Altuve moving to Daikin Park’s shallow left would help keep the team flexible (while hopefully making the defensive transition easier). Altuve being able to DH, as well as play an infield and outfield position would make roster construction A LOT easier for the front office. 2 The Astros anticipated that this off-season could bring some real change and presenting this to Altuve was timely here. Giving Altuve some time to mull over the change instead of having it sprung on him one day when better defenders start joining the team and Altuve’s defense is a couple season’s older.
Earlier this year, at the tail end of the Bregman/Boras telenovela, Altuve announced that he would be willing to switch to left field if it meant his bestie would resign with the team. People everywhere started talking about what a team player Altuve was and the Bregman anger started to stir as it became apparent that Bregman was looking for a bigger payday.
As it began to look like Bregman was not going to return to the team, Altuve said he would be open to giving left a try this spring to help the team be flexible. At this point the narrative began to switch from “team player” to “why is he doing this?” Was his defense that bad at second? Are the Astros outfielders that bad?
Now, in exhibition games, Altuve is working through some throws and routes that you just can’t learn unless it’s in gameplay. Altuve has been heavily criticized for this errors and the worrying and panicking begins.
Yeah, some embarrassing plays aren’t fun for us as Astros fans. But the fact that Altuve is willing to be out there and learn with the spotlight on him is not only him being a team player but incredibly admirable.
In Boston there’s an aging player who is making the team worse with his inflexible attitude. The Astros future is looking bright, not just because of Cam Smith, but because of Jose Altuve’s attitude. He’s willing to take some lumps with these internet casuals who are looking for clicks.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and say Altuve is going to have a Gold Glove season in left. The reality is that Altuve is going to play a lot of left at Daikin and a lot of second base on the road. In my opinion. I think this will keep the Astros flexible in their lineup but still give them better defense on the road. The only way this split doesn’t happen is if Altuve doesn’t like it. Which he seems to be game for splitting time in left in his press comments. OR if Altuve is so bad at the outfield that he is not an option whatsoever. But based off of the limited sample size I’ve watched with my own eyes this spring, he doesn’t look lost and confused. I think Altuve will be able to field left at Daikin for a portion of the season.
Brace yourselves Astros fans, it’s going to be a long season if this is correct because every time Altuve moves from 2nd to left: the hot takes will emerge. The haters will come out with every bobbled ball.3 The trolls will be there to capture every bad moment in the field to meme our man to filth. But Altuve isn’t here to worry about all of that pettiness. He wants to win another World Series and he’ll help even if it might mean negative media attention. I’m sure Boston would love that attitude right now. I’m sure every team would love for their aging superstar to have that attitude. So instead of jumping on the Altuve troll-train, remember this is going to be a transition year and learning year. But in the end it will help the team be flexible.
The real test is going to be on the rest of the outfield. Will they be able to pick up the offense if Altuve is needed to play second? And similarly, will Altuve’s defense in the outfield be good enough to let him play outside of Houston? If there is a playoff series and the infield defense is solid, will Altuve’s defense hold up or will he demand a look at the DH spot. Which would mean maybe Joe Espada might be looking at playing Yordan or Altuve at left or DH.
Will this be perfect? No. But I have faith it will work. And I’m not gonna be worrying about it…at least for a couple of months. Hopefully.
A similar opportunity was given to Craig Biggio. Who spent some time in the outfield as well as at second towards the end of his career.
An aging star that only DHs because a younger star or prospect joins the team is a long time baseball tradition. But not one that leads to consistent playoff baseball.
He won’t get the Mookie Betts treatment—that’s for sure! Mookie was given a parade just for thinking about changing positions late in his career. They basically threw the man a parade. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve the love, but these two players have such a similar past and it’s wild to me how differently the media treats them both. But that’s an article for another day.