Jose Altuve is aiming to elevate
Jose Altuve spent most of the 17-game stretch mired in a protracted slump. He entered Thursday with a .177 batting average over his last 25 games, a funk in which he had five extra-base hits.
The Seattle series, then, brought signs of life. Altuve went 8-for-17 in the four games. He homered twice in the opener after hitting one home run in his previous 156 plate appearances. Of his 17 batted balls in play during the series, eight had an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher.
Saturday, Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón said Altuve had made an adjustment to load into his back leg more and get to a hitting position earlier.
“We felt he was getting late in his load to start, which was causing him to land and keep going forward,” Cintrón said. “So that way … he was getting (late on) the heater, and then he was chasing the off-speed because his head was moving forward.”