Home / MLB / Houston Astros / Astros’ Jose Altuve Tops Yankees’ Aaron Judge For AL MVP

Astros’ Jose Altuve Tops Yankees’ Aaron Judge For AL MVP

  • By
    • Tweet
    • Pin It
  • Updated: November 16, 2017

Thursday, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) saw fit to bestow the coveted 2017 American League Most Valuable Player Award to the newly-crowned World Series Champion, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros. The Yankees’ Aaron Judge came in second, according to the writers. Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez was the third AL MVP finalist.

The Astros’ 5’5″ 160-pound second baseman, now becoming widely-known simply as baseball’s best hitter, garnered 27 of 30 first-place votes by the writers (totaling 405 points), against two first-place votes earned by Judge, whose votes totaled 279. Ramirez received the final first-place vote, and totaled 237 votes.

Altuve becomes just the second Astro to win the award, as Hall-of-Famer Jeff Bagwell took home the NL MVP in 1994. Altuve is also the first player in MLB history to be the outright leader in hits in his league for four consecutive seasons.

“I don’t know what to say. I wasn’t expecting this. This is great. … I’m so happy I feel like I want to cry,” Altuve told MLB Network following the announcement.

Related: The Improbable Journey of Altuve: From Venezuela Sandlot to World Champion

Consistency, Thy Name is Altuve

All season long and no matter the situation, Jose Altuve continued to hit. He hit .347 in the first half of the season, and .344 in the second half. He hit .353 against southpaws and .344 against righties. Judge, conversely, hit just .230 against lefties and hit only eight of his 52 home runs against left-handers.

Altuve hit .342 with the bases empty and .350 with runners on base. He hit .338 against starters and .363 against relievers. Plus, he hit .357 on fastballs and .332 on offspeed pitches. He also hit .361 from the seventh inning on, and .342 with two out. Altuve led MLB with a .421 batting average in interleague play, and he led the majors with a .381 batting average on the road.

This year, Altuve won his third AL batting title (in four years) with an MLB-leading 204 hits, a .346 batting average, 24 homers, while driving in 81 runs, and scoring 112 runs (2nd in the AL). He stole 32 bases for a 101-win club that won the World Series. He walked 58 times against only 84 strikeouts in 153 games.

Altuve finished the season third in the American League in on-base percentage (.410), fifth in total bases (323) and sixth in slugging percentage (.547). He led the AL in multi-hit games with 59, and led MLB in games with at least three hits (23). He also ranked first in the AL in infield hits (35).

He finished with a .957 OPS, and an AL-leading WAR of 8.3, according to Baseball Reference, to Judge’s 8.1 WAR. According to FanGraphs, though, Judge led with 8.2 WAR while Altuve was worth 7.5 WAR.

Altuve hit third in the Astros’ lineup, ahead of Carlos Correa; but, when Correa was on the disabled list from July 19 to Sept. 3, recovering from thumb ligament surgery, Altuve stepped up by hitting .384 with a 1.1015 OPS in the 40 games Houston’s shortstop missed.

Altuve raked in what’s called the “close and late” stat: How a hitter does when his team is ahead by one run, tied or up with the potential tying run at least on deck in the seventh inning or later. In that metric, Altuve led all of baseball with a .441 average in those situations. Judge hit .215 in the same situations.

Judge, the 6-foot-7, 282-pound AL Rookie of the Year, hit .284 with 52 homers (a rookie record) and 114 RBIs, 128 runs, and 127 walks in 155 games. His 208 strikeouts were nearly two and a half times more than Altuve’s K total. Judge finished 2017 with a 1.049 OPS. The Yankees made the playoffs as one of two AL Wild Card teams. Judge and his Yanks were trounced by the Astros in the ALCS, four games to three.

Judge led the AL in walk percentage (18.7), but was third in the league in strikeout percentage (30.7). From July 14 through Aug. 26, Judge endured his well-documented summer slump, hitting just 25-for-142, with seven homers and 63 strikeouts and had an OPS of .678, hitting just .230 in July and .185 in August.

But, just when it appeared he may have fallen out of the MVP race, Judge recovered and enjoyed his best month of the year in September, with 15 homers and an OPS of 1.352, as the Yankees secured their Wild Card spot.

By contrast, Altuve’s worst month was September when he still hit .291. In every other month of the season, he hit no worse than .304, proving he was virtually slump-proof. Altuve was also the model of consistency in OPS, never finishing a month with that stat never lower than .832.

Related: For the Yankees’ point of view on Judge’s 2nd-place finish, see “Aaron Judge Loses AL MVP in a Landslide; Does This Make Sense?”

“No” Was the First Thing He Heard From the Astros.

The Washington Post recently sized up Altuve’s start with Houston: “When Altuve was 16, the Astros rejected him at a tryout because of his size, but Altuve’s father begged the team to give his son a second tryout, and the Astros eventually signed him for just $15,000. And despite hitting .327 with an .867 OPS in the minors, none of the leading prospect-ranking websites named him among the top 100 prospects in the game. Even as he became one of the best hitters in the game, Altuve has had to deal with inherent doubts, puzzled looks, whispered jabs and even outright jokes about his size.”

After signing with the Astros as a non-drafted free agent in 2006, Altuve began his professional career as a member of the Astros’ Venezuelan Summer League team in his home country in 2007. In 2009, Altuve was an Appalachian League All-Star and the team MVP of the Greeneville Astros (rookie level affiliate with whom Houston cut ties in September 2017, after 13 years). He earned mid-season and postseason All-Star honors in the South Atlantic League in 2010.

Related: With Postseason Awards Piling Up, Is MVP Next For Jose Altuve?

What Was Said About Jose Before He Was “The ‘Tuve”

This is what Baseball America wrote about Altuve, the Astros’ No. 28 prospect after the 2010 season, spent at Houston’s Class A-Advanced Lancaster (CA) affiliate:

“Altuve fits no standard profile. He doesn’t lack tools, but he’s difficult to compare to other players. He has a unique build, compared by some scouts to a fire hydrant, and some say he is two inches shorter than his listed height (back then, 5’7″, 170 lbs.; as major leaguer, he’s listed as 5’6″, 165; by his own account, he’s 5’5″, 160). Defense is his best attribute. He has quick, strong hands that work well at the plate and in the field.”

From the June 19, 2010, Crawfish Boxes: “If he were a few inches taller, Altuve would rank much more highly as a speedy second baseman with plus defense, contact skills, and more power than you’d expect.”

I Wonder If He Even Likes Spinach

From Roto Scouting, this 2010 scouting report: “Simply put, Altuve has very little projection. At 5’5″, and a stout 150 lbs. or so, he has a muscular frame including broad shoulders and a well-developed lower half. For his size, he has “Popeye” strength along with speed and explosive movements. However, it’s impossible to avoid coming back to his size as a limiting factor when envisioning Altuve’s future roll/or lack thereof at the big league level.

“Altuve has an extremely short stroke and little-to-no strike zone to speak of. He may have had the most memorable at bat of the 2010 season for me as he worked an 0-2 count back to full, in-between fouling off what seemed like a dozen pitches before lacing a single up the middle. There’s just no way around the fact that the kid can hit. PERIOD! However, one is forced to wonder how his surprising power will play at higher levels considering the bat looks like a billy club in his grip.

“So while I can’t say he will ever be an impact talent, to rule out a scenario where he does not at least become a second division starter and instant fan favorite would be irresponsible of me.”

Altuve represented the Astros in the Futures Game at Chase Field (Phoenix, AZ) as part of Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities in July 2011. He started at second base for the World Team and went two-for-three with a double.

Related: The Reluctant Legend: Jose Altuve and the Ty Cobb Connection

What Is Being Said About the Jose Altuve We Now Know

“His ability to make contact on all pitches, both in and out of the zone—that’s always been his special ability,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said recently. “As he’s matured, he’s learned to lay off bad or borderline pitches, which has resulted in more damage on the pitches he goes after.”

“I don’t really care how tall he is. It’s his ability that speaks for itself,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Altuve, after a playoff game. “He’s the most consistent player in the league, in a league that has the most elite performers anywhere . . . Five-six, 6-6, 100 pounds, 200 pounds, 300 pounds — it’s more about what he does, not about the package it comes from.”

Continuing, Hinch beamed: “Well, I don’t know any more ways to describe Jose other than he’s as close to perfect as you can imagine as a manager. He does everything right. And I’ve used this before, but he’s every bit what’s right about our team and our organization, and he represents so much of what we do. His consistency is second to none in the big leagues.

“So we’re hard to beat when he’s right, and he’s right a lot of days. The hits are real. The defense is real. The presence that he’s starting to grow into as a leader, albeit a quiet one, is felt by all of us, whether it’s players, coaches, organization and the whole city of Houston.”

This week, Forbes Magazine named their 2018 “30 Under 30” list, and Altuve made the cut.

Worth reading: This Houston Chronicle article, with photos, “A Look at Jose Altuve When He Was a Little-Known Player in the Minors.”

Brad Kyle

Brad Kyle

Brad Ramone with (L-R) Dee Dee, Johnny, and Joey Ramone, backstage at Houston's Liberty Hall, July, 1977.

Johnny, the Ramones' influential guitarist, who passed away in 2004 at 55, was an avid baseball and New York Yankees fan since childhood. He even once ranked baseball above rock'n'roll in a personal Top 10 List!

Like Johnny, my love for rock is only equaled by my love for baseball and my hometown Houston Astros, present and past!

At TRS, you'll get full Astros coverage, minor league peeks, player profiles, interviews, MLB historical perspective, and maybe a little rock'n'roll!
Brad Kyle

Latest posts by Brad Kyle (see all)

  • Griffin Fuller

    Another win for the Astros over the Yankees. It is a great write up about Jose Altuve and his AL MVP win. I have said numerous times in articles and in my voting for the websites awards, Jose Altuve was the AL MVP this season.

    However, I actually was quite shocked about how large the gap was between Altuve and Judge. I did not think it would be the two point difference that it was in the NL, but only 27 to 2 for first place votes surprised me. Especially with Judge beating Altuve out in WAR (by some measures), runs scored, OBP, and defensive runs saved. Not saying Judge should have won at all, but I thought it was going to be closer.

    • Brad Kyle

      Thanks for the kind words, Griffin! It HAS been quite a 2017 for the Bayou City 9: Bagwell into HOF, Astros Champs, and now, Altuve’s MVP. You, believe me, were not alone in thinking Altuve’s win would be a closer one.
      My working title for my article was “Altuve Edges Judge….” A couple Astro media types have already “admitted” to thinking it would be much closer.

      I need to give mad props to all those NE writers, most of whom, heretofore, have ignored all things Astros, especially if anything New Yawk was in the running, and the bias seemed blatant (if not admittedly imagined by cynical little me)!

      To take nothing away from “Da Toov,” some/many/most writers might have let the notion that Judge has many more years to prove his consistency, and 2017 was not his be-all and end-all for winning MVP. Couple that with the fact that it’s high time Altuve was honored, and that duet of human dynamics (however subconsciously) may have crept into some writers’ votes.

      When I grow up, I wanna be just like Jose Altuve.