José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
José Carlos Altuve (Spanish pronunciation: [alˈtuβe]; born May 6, 1990) is a Venezuelan professional baseball second baseman for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Astros signed Altuve as an amateur free agent in 2007, and he made his major league debut in 2011. A right-handed batter and thrower, as of 2017 he was the shortest active MLB player, at 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m). His listed weight is 165 pounds (75 kg). From 2014 to 2017, Altuve recorded at least 200 hits each season and led the American League (AL) in the category. He won three batting championships in that span.
A seven-time MLB All-Star, Altuve has been voted the starting second baseman for the AL in the All-Star Game four times. In 2017, he won the AL Most Valuable Player Award, the Hank Aaron Award, and became a World Series champion with the Astros, each for the first time. In the same year, Altuve was Sports Illustrated's co-Sportsperson of the Year with J. J. Watt of the NFL's Houston Texans for helping to lead relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Other awards Altuve received in 2017 were the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year (making him the fifth player to be selected in consecutive years), and Baseball America's Major League Player of the Year. He has also won five Silver Slugger Awards and one Rawlings Gold Glove. After hitting an epic, pennant-winning walk-off two-run home run off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman to end the 2019 American League Championship Series and send the Astros to their second World Series in three years, Altuve was awarded his first ALCS MVP.
In 2014, he became the first player in over 80 years to reach 130 hits and 40 stolen bases before the All-Star Game. That same season, he became the first Astro to win a batting title, leading the AL with a .341 average. He has twice led the AL in stolen bases. From Maracay, Venezuela, Altuve played for the Venezuelan national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC). He holds the record for postseason home runs among second basemen and infielders with 23, which is second all-time in postseason history while being the fastest to do so in games played. He had 31 games with four hits from 2011 to 2021, the most among any player in that span in MLB. As part of an era that has seen the Astros win a world championship and three pennants in five seasons, Altuve is widely regarded as one of the greatest Astros in franchise history, and one of the best second basemen in baseball.