Jose Altuve’s slump is becoming a serious problem for the Astros

Eric Cole

Houston Astros v Milwaukee Brewers / John Fisher/GettyImages

The Houston Astros' offense has a number of problems right now. Losing Yordan Alvarez is obviously a major issue, but that's not the only thing that's gone wrong in Houston. Normally one of the top lineups in MLB, the Astros rank 14th in fWAR so far in 2025. One of the biggest culprits has been the normally reliable Jose Altuve, and fans are becoming increasingly concerned about the former MVP's lack of production this season.

Earlier this season, Altuve looked like his vintage self. He was hitting over .300 and causing havoc out of the leadoff spot. Since then, however, his production at the plate has cratered after being moved out of the leadoff spot and down to the second spot in the batting order.

A deeper look at Altuve's numbers this season reveals that this isn't your garden variety slump. It could be a sign that Altuve's decline may be steeper than anyone thought coming into this season.

Jose Altuve's slump looks very real and it's a big problem for the Astros lineup

From April 18 through May 6, Altuve's numbers at the plate are absolutely brutal. In 58 plate appearances, he's sporting a .170/241/.264 slash line with only one home run. This has been a player who gets among the most at-bats in Houston's lineup, and yet he is hitting like Jake Meyers used to hit.

Good hitters can get into a funk and/or become unlucky, but Altuve's peripheral data is pretty concerning. Across all of his plate appearances in 2025, Altuve ranks in the bottom 10% of xwOBA, xBA, average exit velocity, launch angle sweet spot, bat speed, and chase percentage. For those that aren't into advanced metrics, the abridged version is that he is taking bad swings at bad pitches and doing little damage when he does make contact. That's not good.

Altuve hasn't ever been a player who consistently crushes baseballs, but the drop-off this season has been significant. He no longer has the speed to turn these grounders into infield singles, and his physical skillset as a whole is clearly trending downward.

Unfortunately, there isn't much the Astros can do about it right now. They need Altuve to play left field, and given that he's owed $33 million per year through 2027 and $13 million a year the following two years, he's going to get every opportunity to figure things out. If he doesn't, his current deal is going to look like yet another mistake despite everything he has done for the franchise in his career.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.