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Astros: Jose Altuve Finishes Third in MVP Voting

By Michael Knight

Sep 26, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) drives in a run with a fielders choice during the ninth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) drives in a run with a fielders choice during the ninth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Astros’ own Jose Altuve falls short in his attempt to bring home the MVP.

Jose Altuve should not be discouraged in the slightest as he kept a struggling Astros team in the playoff race until the last couple weeks of the season. Though seeing the first Most Valuable Player in the city of Houston since Jeff Bagwell in 1994 would have been nice, finishing third place for the most prestigious award in baseball is nothing of which he should be ashamed.

Mike Trout of the division rival Los Angeles Angels ran away with first place for his second MVP award in his young career. He finished with 19 first place votes and 356 points total. Boston Red Sox right fielder, Mookie Betts, finished in second place with nine first-place votes and 311 points total. Somehow, someway, Altuve did not receive any first-place votes after his spectacular season in the orange and blue. He instead received two second-place votes, 15 third-place votes, and a total of 227 points.

The BBWAA writers apparently did not think Altuve deserved to win MVP. However, the people over at Sporting News certainly did as he was named Sporting News’ Player of the Year. He also wound up winning his third consecutive Silver Slugger Award at second base. The awards have been piling on for Altuve these last few years, and we should expect more of the same in the future from the Astros MVP.

Altuve finished the 2016 season with absolutely incredible statistics.

Hitting over .350 for much of the season, a late season slump saw Jose finish with a .338 average. That was still tops in the American League. The most impressive jump in Altuve’s game this season was his power numbers.  In fact, he increased his home run career-high to 24 and drove in 96 runs on the season. He had n OPS of .928 and also stole 30 bases. In the advanced statistics area, Altuve posted an impressive WAR of 7.7 and 150 wRC+.

Next: Houston Astros: More likely target Chris Archer vs. Chris Sale

Thanks to the recent additions, the Astros offense should be an outstanding unit in 2017. And fans should be excited as this offense as they will be led the shortest, and perhaps the best, of them all.

**Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs**

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