Astros: Jose Altuve named AP Male Athlete of the year

Astros star Jose Altuve gets one more award to add to his collection.

In a year where the Houston Astros won their first World Series in franchise history, they had some great players on the team. To win a championship, you typically have players who had a career season. This was the case with Jose Altuve in 2017.

While he was a great player from 2015-16, he really took another step last year. Last year, we saw long absences from George Springer, Carlos Correa, and others, Altuve played in 153 games. He would have played more, but A.J. Hinch did a good job resting his stars all season to keep them fresh for a deep playoff run.

Altuve could be one of the best players in the game and is on pace to have better career numbers than Craig Biggio. Believe it or not, Biggio only had one season where he had 200 plus hits. Altuve has had four straight seasons of 200 plus hits. Granted, Biggio walked more and got hit by the pitch more. Altuve has already won an MVP award.

One last award.

Today, the AP announced that Altuve was named the AP Male Athlete award winner. According to ESPN, Altuve got 714 points to win the award. This topped Tom Brady and Lebron James in the voting. Those are two extraordinary athletes but shows the level of respect people have of Altuve.

Even though I see Springer as the spark plug that drives the Astros, you can’t discount the consistency of Altuve. This is why Altuve beat out rookie Aaron Judge for the AL MVP award. Altuve has a great backstory and an even better personality.

You can build a team around Altuve.

If you could build your team around one player, Altuve would be the guy. He is not a one-trick pony; he has made himself a five-tool talent. The Astros have a 2019 option for Altuve for $6.5 million. My guess is they look to extend him next offseason because they can’t compete with others when he hits free agency.

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This past season, Altuve had a slash line of .346/ .410/ .547/ .957 while hitting 24 homers and stealing 32 bases. He turned it up in the playoffs, hitting three homers versus the Red Sox in the ALDS. Overall, Altuve batted .310 with seven homers.

When the Astros signed Carlos Beltran last offseason, he went out to dinner with Altuve and Correa. Beltran said that Altuve told him he wanted to get better. This is exactly what Altuve did; he got better. What’s next?

Next: Astros: Jose Altuve has faced Shohei Ohtani before

This is another well-earned award for the Astros second baseman. Hopefully, the Astros show him the money down the road. Looking forward to what Altuve can do in 2018.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***