The Houston Astros are trying a new experiment coming into the season, and that’s putting Jose Altuve in left field. Altuve has played his entire career at second base and is now making the transition to left field. In his first game at the position, he was very quiet, but in their latest game against the Nationals, he saw some action.
Ronel Blanco threw a grounder short off the bat of Keibert Ruiz which should have been the end of the inning, but Luis Guillorme made an error. Altuve played it nicely, but he then made a poor throw which caused another error.
Two innings later, Altuve came back better than ever and ran to the warning track, grabbing a potential extra-base hit by Ruiz against the wall in front of his team’s bullpen. The pitchers gave Altuve major props after the play, and he spoke about the defensive move.
“Good to make the first one,” Altuve said via MLB.com’s Steve Dorsey.
“I saw the ball and thought, ‘OK, this is going to be interesting.’ I saw the ball, saw the fence, I knew they were getting close to each other,” Altuve continued. “The last second, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to catch it.’ So it was like boom-boom. The bullpen was cheering for me. They were helping me, too, saying you’ve got room and all. It was great, I’m really happy about it.”
Altuve noted that he probably rushed the throw on the error he made the first time, but he’s still learning where to be and what to do in certain situations.
“Next game I’ll know where my throws are going,” Altuve said. “There’s going to be adjustments to make. That first throw was kind of tricky because it wasn’t a normal base hit [or] long throw, it was mid-distance, but I think I’m going to learn.”
As spring training continues, the hope is that Altuve keeps making good plays and shows the team that he’s ready to make the transition.
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