Sports // Astros

Astros' José Altuve says his homer barrage is unintentional

SEATTLE — The expression is expected but somewhat unbelievable. José Altuve has proven his statement to be true and, yet, his results render a different thought.

"I stand by my words when I say that when I go to home plate, I'm not trying to hit homers," Altuve said Saturday.

"I'm just trying to put the ball in play, make good contact ... even though I'm hitting homers, I'm not going to try to change my approach."

After each game concludes, the six-time All-Star finds a computer to digest the replay. The second baseman watches his plate appearances and studies his swing while television analysts assess what few can comprehend.

After tying a franchise record with four home runs in a three-game sweep against the Yankees earlier this week, Altuve's mammoth grand slam on Friday against the Mariners and solo shot on Saturday authored more history. He is the first Astro since Morgan Ensberg to hit a home run in five consecutive games.

Only four men in franchise history have ever struck home runs in five straight games — Ensberg, Carlos Beltran and Cliff Johnson.

Ensberg holds the franchise record with a six-game streak during the 2006 season.

Altuve's seven home runs lead the team and are tied for second among American League hitters. Not since his seven-homer showing in the 2017 postseason has Altuve showed such profound power in a short cluster.

"When he does this, he's super repeatable," Alex Bregman said. "He just repeats. I feel like all good hitters have the quality of being able to repeat and he does it times 10. He can just repeat, repeat, repeat and that's just what we're trying to do every day.'

Broadcasts extol Altuve's exit velocities and launch angles, words that permeate baseball's current state but matter little to its best hitter. He knows the numbers only because the television tells him.

Altuve refuses to let it alter his approach or dictate how he conducts his at-bats, a mistake he made early in his career that he refuses to make again.

"I've been playing in the league for almost eight years now and you learn from that," Altuve said. "Probably the first time I started hitting homers, in 2015, every time I hit a homer, the next at-bat I wanted to hit a homer."

"But you learn, you get a little bit of knowledge and start doing what you know works for you."

Only Altuve is actually aware of what actually constitutes his approach. It varies from at-bat to at-bat, game to game and pitcher to pitcher.

Pinpointing what makes Altuve's approach elite is difficult for even the man himself. George Springer and Tony Kemp spent most of their Friday night discussing it in the dugout. They, too, are confounded.

"He has an uncanny ability to just do what he knows how to do," Springer said. "He never alters, he just goes out there with a plan, whatever it is. No one really knows what it is, whether it's sit on a pitch or get something to hit, whatever it is, and he executes it. His bad days are a 12-for-40 stretch, that's when he feels he's not right. For everyone else, I'd love that."

To hear Altuve explain his current streak, one of the most prodigious of his illustrious career, is almost cliché. Altuve says he is waiting for his pitch and trying to hit the baseball hard.

His contact point is best when it is right over the plate or a tad out in front, manager A.J. Hinch said. If Altuve gets too far out front, though, he can become pull-happy, especially at Minute Maid Park.

Friday, after crushing a go-ahead grand slam at T-Mobile Park, Altuve said he is studying his swing to diagnose why his power is suddenly accelerated. Swinging on two healthy knees certainly helps. Otherwise, Altuve found few clues.

"I think he hits home runs by accident," Hinch said. "I don't think he necessarily tries to hit the ball far, he tries to hit it hard."

"If he just focuses on hitting the ball hard, it goes pretty far. The more he tries to launch, the more he tries to lift the ball, the more trouble he gets into. These stretches where he's hitting the ball all over the ballpark, he's hitting the ball hard for the most part every at-bat, the success comes with it."

Data affirms the manager's assessment. Altuve is averaging an 87.8 mph exit velocity on his batted balls in play, nearly two miles per hour harder than his averages in both 2017 and 2018.

According to BaseballSavant, Altuve entered Saturday's game with 48 batted balls. Seven were barreled up — an obscene 14.6 percent rate. The major league average barrel percentage is just over six.

"When he gets hot, it's something different, it's something special," Springer said. "Everything he  hits is a rocket. He's doing exactly what he does now, he hits five or six homers in a five, six-game span and all of a sudden he has 20. I've seen him do it for five, six years now. It doesn't really surprise me anymore, but it never ceases to impress me."

Added Altuve: "Your swing can be good, but if you're trying to pull the ball or trying to hit a homer or if you're trying to do this, anything is going to work if you have the right approach. That's what gets you the homers and the hard-hit balls."