Houston Astros Moving Hall of Famer to Left Field Has Gone Better Than Expected

It is not very often that a player can be bad defensively, and yet somehow they have still performed better than expected. That has been the case to this point for the Houston Astros and left fielder Jose Altuve.

Altuve is in his 15th season in MLB. For 14 of those, he was primarily a second baseman. Earlier in his career, he was a solid option for the position defensively, but he is now in his age-35 campaign, and his range and arm are not what they once were. To alleviate those issues, the Astros decided over the offseason to move the veteran to left field.

The first reaction is, of course, "Why? Altuve no longer has the range or the arm necessary for second base, so what sense does it make to move him to left field?" And, you would be right. However, Houston's ballpark, Daikin Park, is unique in that left field is much shorter than most, with the Crawford Boxes protruding inward, leaving the outfield area much more truncated than normal.

So far, the transition has not been as bad as one might initially expect. Now, of course, it has not been good; Altuve has -1 Outs Above Average in left field on the year, but that is much better than anyone originally expected.

There were multiple plays in spring training that a normal left fielder would make with ease, but Altuve was incapable of doing so. His arm has still been a problem, as well, with a max throw this year of only 80.7 MPH, which would rank 129th in all of MLB if he had enough throws to qualify. For reference, a league average left fielder throws at 87.0 MPH.

It is unclear at this point if the position change has affected his offensive production or if it is just natural regression due to age, but Altuve has not been as good at the plate this year as he has throughout his career. Entering Thursday batting just .274/.323/.402 with four home runs, 14 RBI, and a 107 OPS+, he has struck out (19.7%) and hit the ball on the ground (54.8%) at the highest rates of his career, and his BABIP (.315) is not much lower than his career mark (.329) so his struggles are not the product of bad luck.

The Astros have to keep Altuve in the lineup, somehow. He is one of the team's all-time greats and was a big part of the organization's dynasty. If that means running the veteran out in left, so be it. It may not be a good option, but it has certainly been better than expected.