Jose Altuve has been in the news a lot since the Houston Astros signal theft scandal, often for the wrong reasons.
But this time, let’s talk about it for a good reason.
It’s that the small second baseman has just crossed the milestone of 2,000 career hits. Colleague Pascal Harvey told us this morning.
Heading into last night’s game (Saturday) against the Seattle Mariners, Altuve needed two small hits to reach his goal. And that’s what he did by hitting a single on the first pitch he saw in the first inning and then another in the fifth against right-hander Logan Gilbert.
On the play, the fast runner attempted to stretch his doubles single, but was pinned at second base. The feat was achieved, however, and the crowd gathered at Minute Maid Park in Houston joined in to celebrate the event, asking their favorite to come out of the shelter to cheer him on once more.
The 33-year-old thus becomes the third player in franchise history to reach this milestone, after Craig Biggio (3,060) and Jeff Bagwell (2,314) did so before him. Both were inducted into the Hall of Fame and were in attendance last night.
The former 2017 American League MVP (a title stolen from Aaron Judge) isn’t the only one to hit 2,000 hits in 2023.
Indeed, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen and Chicago White Sox infielder Elvis Andrus also did so earlier this season.
The next two in line are Evan Longoria (1,921) of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Paul Goldschmidt (1,879) of the St. Louis Cardinals.
