Astros' early-season struggles are overshadowing Jose Altuve's stunning revival

One would have thought that a vintage Jose Altuve season would send the Houston Astros soaring. Coming into 2026, that seemed increasingly unlikely. The 36-year-old had been on a steady decline over the past two seasons, and his showing in spring training made it seem as if Father Time was about to accelerate his demise. So far, expectations have been defied, in both good and bad ways.

Altuve has begun the season on a tear, but after a 1-9 road trip, the Astros are in a tailspin, falling to 6-11 on the season and sinking to the AL West cellar. Amazing, but true.

The 2017 AL MVP is slashing .311/.432/.492 with two homers through 17 games. While he probably won't continue to hit like an MVP, he does seem as if he's staving off decline by making a massive adjustment in the early going.

Always a free swinger, Altuve has become much more discerning at the plate this year. Last season, he chased 38.9% of the time, a fifth percentile mark. So far this season, he's only chased pitches out of the zone at a 24.4%, which is good for a 78th percentile performance. As a result, he's lifted his hard-hit rate from 30.9% to 40.8% and is walking at a 17.6% clip, blowing his 7.6% career walk rate out of the water.

Astros are wasting what might be the last superb season Jose Altuve has left

The only way Altuve's resurgence wouldn't be enough to vault the Astros forward is if the club failed in other areas. That's exactly what has happened. The pitching staff is dead last with a 6.50 ERA, and the injuries have begun to mount. Both are major concerns, but it's especially scary that the injury bug is running rampant after what happened to Houston last season.

History says this year will not go well for the Astros. The 1-9 road trip featured an eight-game-and-counting losing streak. What happened the last time the Astros lost at least eight in a row? They ended up losing 111 games in total back in 2013.

The worst part of all of this is that this isn't a total surprise. Many wouldn't have thought they'd have such a dramatic losing streak so early, but without a quality veteran behind Hunter Brown in the rotation, it's not a shock that the pitching hasn't been up to snuff.

Houston's offense is one of the best in baseball. They've scored 95 runs through 17 games, a mark that is tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best in the MLB. Altuve's a big part of that, but Yordan Alvarez is reminding everyone that he's one of the absolute best hitters in the game. Christian Walker is rebounding to a degree that no one thought possible. Cam Smith is breaking out.

None of it will matter, though, if the pitching staff can't at least be adequate. If that doesn't happen, it will be a rough year, and potentially the last seriously productive season of Altuve's career. If that's how things go down, it will be an absolute shame.