Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Astros have the longest active winning streak in all of baseball right now. They look like a completely different team, and I’m not sure what it is. The pitching as a whole is much better, and the bats have continued to hit the long ball.
One thing that hasn’t changed? Jose Altuve is still forcing the issue whenever he is on the basepaths.
Altuve hasn’t been the hit machine during this winning streak. In fact, he has seen his batting average drop from .330 all the way down to .296. I don’t know if he is in a slump or what, but for most of the season so far, the bulk of the hits for the Astros were coming from the short second sacker.
Even though Altuve isn’t hitting as much as he would like right now, he is still getting on base, or getting at least one hit and then forcing the issue on the base paths. In fact, he even talked about it. Guys like Jason Castro and J.D. Martinez have been on fire and as a result, Altuve has felt the need to steal bases and be aggressive in trying to get into scoring position for the three and four hitters.
While Altuve is waiting to heat back up again, he will continue to be a force on the base paths. He isn’t the fastest guy in the league, but he can certainly run, and getting in scoring position in front of Castro and Martinez will obviously help the scoring chances for the Astros.
One way Houston’s winning streak will continue is if the Astros continue to score runs, and getting Altuve into scoring position will certainly help that.
