The experience to the left of Jose Altuve depends on better exchanges

Minneapolis-Sabba on Saturday woke up on Saturday with at least 44 inning, enough to qualify for inclusion in the defensive charts. Only one had recorded less Put than Jose Altuve, the Houston Astros icon which is in the midst of a transition that pierced sport.

The charm accompanied each of the first six highly departures in the left field. Five presented nothing to justify it, accentuating the logic of astros to move altuva first. He is a defender in decline now away from most of the action, playing behind a launch staff that the team’s officials expect to generate more land balls than most of his counterparts.

After eight games, altuve is much less involved in the defensive dynamics of Astros, but hiding it for the whole season is impossible. The tests of its four -month -old crash course are coming, the last Ty France in a 247 -foot Moscow ball blocked himself in a shallow left field in a sunshine dance on Saturday afternoon in Target Field.

Expecting that Altuve conquers every outfield challenge is not senseless, even if his career is made up of countless cases that make him feasible. The progress it has shown is evident, both with some athletic catches in the gap or in the decisions during the games that attract little fanfare. With the warning of a tiny sample, altuva has still entered Saturday for a value outside the average in the left field.

“The routes and the Moscow balls, the tracing, the entire thing, seems more comfortable and comfortable every day,” said manager Joe Espada after the loss of 6-1 of Houston against the Minnesota Twins.

Only one problem persists. After the catches you do or other contacts that ensures, altuva cannot complete the exchange of hand gloves, a rudimentary skill for expert outfielders, but something that this second converted base is struggling to master.

“They really emphasize the ball and make the transfer to you in front of you, and I continue to return to the transfer,” said Altuve, who has shown his mistakes reaching both hands behind his back.

“We are putting a lot of work and now we are working on everything: flight balls, line unit, earth balls. I feel slowly better out there. You can say from the way I took the balls from Moscow. I think that in the end we will continue to work and continue to improve.”

Jose Altuve tries to capture a ball hit by Juan Soto a Daikin Park on March 29. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)

The instincts and intentions of altuve in the outer field are good. He slowed down while approaching the Moscow ball of France in the fourth ining on Saturday, opting to keep the ball in front of him rather than risking immersing himself with the runners standing first and second. The ball bounced straight on altuva, which has ensured it without problems.

When he did it, Byron Buxton was blocked between the second and third. Buxton did not get an ideal reading on the French fly ball but boasts the main type of speed to mask the error. It covers 29.5 feet per second when it runs, faster than everyone except a qualified player in baseball.

“I know it’s new out there,” said Buxton, “so I wanted to be a little aggressive.”

Buxton is so fast that Altuve had almost no chance of throwing it out of the third base. ATTUVE AT TUE TRUSTH IT. He brought his hands back to start the shot, just to drop the ball from the glove. Buxton marked the League race when he did it.

“I didn’t think so much; I just hurried,” said Altuve. “It was byron Buxton in execution, so you think I have to capture and launch. I think the right way to do it is (to) take the ball, make sure you have it and then throw it.”

The error is the first of Attuve in the left field throughout the season, but has had an almost disturbing similarity with the two games that failed in the game of prapefrutto. Altuve dropped those Moscow balls in the air, both with runners to the third base and less than two outs. Even then, Altuve recognized thinking about shooting before leaving the capture.

“I think I did everything well until I crashed to launch the ball,” said Altuve. “I should take the ball and then throw it. We are working on it, but during the game, go with what you have. It was obviously a big mistake there that ended up making a race.”

There are myriads of reasons for altuvic accidents, and above all it is this: it is an infielder in its fourth month of full -time game. That it took eight games for such an evident gaffe underlines why the astros feel comfortable in making altuve learn. The lumps are coming, but it is not as if they were a daily event.

Altuve is using a glove bigger than the one wearing at the second base, something he recognized on Saturday is “certain” in consideration of his transfer problems. That he has one of the weakest launch arms in sport cannot be overlooked. The coach of the third base of Minnesota Tommy Watkins said that the twins entered the series going “outside what you see from him launch from the infield”.

Altuve scored on average 75.5 mph on the 553 shots that he had since the second base last season. Astros can mitigate the problem by positioning their deeper cut men in the outer field, but altuva has yet to be fast in getting the relay.

Altuve rushed on Saturday, who started a spiral. The twins have scored five other races in the frame after the altuve gaffe, even if the blame for the loss is unjust. Houston’s formation blocked 11 base runners and scored 13 Strikeout.

The High Solist House Race on the second shot of the game produced the only Astros race. He spent a sleepless Thursday evening telling the worst offensive game of his wonderful career, a Five strokes clunker This caused applause from an opposing crowd otherwise submissive during Thursday’s victory.

Way to start all over!#BuiltForthis pic.twitter.com/k17gqgswxi

– Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2025

That altuve replied with a three -round game did not surprise anyone. It is 12-to-33 to start the season, the only semblance of continuity in this range subject to Strikeout. Nothing that does in the left field is more vital than that.

– The AthleticDan Hayes has contributed to this relationship.

(Top photo of Jose Altuve and Jake Meyers: Tim Warner / Getty Images)