HOUSTON NOMINATES FACE OF FRANCHISE
Award nomination adds more proof Jose Altuve's vilification is unwarranted
Sep 9, 2022, 2:26 pm
Jose Altuve has a chance to take home some more hardware. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images.
It was only a matter of time before Altuve fully embraced his new role
Each year, all MLB clubs nominate a player as a finalist for the Roberto Clemente award, which then goes to a fan vote. The award aims to honor players that have gone above and beyond in their team's communities to leverage their reach to have a beneficial impact.
For the past few years, Alex Bregman has been Houston's nominee due to his volume of work with his charity, Bregman Cares, and multiple different initiatives with Houston-based programs to help those in need. For the 2022 award, the Astros have selected Jose Altuve.
"For the past two years, Altuve has hosted the “Uncork for a Cause” fundraiser through the Astros Foundation, which focuses on raising money and awareness for youth sports and education programs, the nation's military, childhood cancer, domestic violence awareness and reducing homelessness." - mlb.com
The disparity is drastic for Altuve in MLB. He is cherished and cheered by fans in Houston and his clubhouse. When he steps into the batter's box anywhere else, boos (and worse) rain down on him as if he had single-handedly ruined the game of baseball and their team's success, often shortly after Altuve took time out of his pre-game routine to meet with young fans of both teams. Why is that?
Altuve rightfully became the face of the Astros franchise and will continue to be during his current contract, which goes through 2024. Most know the underdog story by now of how he ended up on the team, and it's no secret about his stature and how exciting it is to see his performance despite it.
The reason fans outside of Houston turned on him harshly lands squarely on the sign-stealing scandal of 2017-2018. With Altuve being the most prominent and identifiable part of the Astros during that period when the scandal came to light, he became the face of Houston's cheating, even though it's been widely proven that he personally did not partake in the scheme.
There is a valid argument that even though he didn't receive the benefits of knowing what pitch was coming when he was batting, those in front of him probably did. That could have given him a boost in stats like RBI, which may have played a role in him winning the 2017 AL MVP over Aaron Judge. Another argument is that he could have stopped the scheme altogether, but we may never understand the true clubhouse culture surrounding the cheating and who did or didn't do or say things at the time.
That level of argument is not why most people who despise him continue to do so, though. The age of misinformation has instead been the driver of leading people to their conclusion about Altuve, and unfortunately, it's far more difficult to disprove lies and spread facts. I'd argue that most people that continue to hate Altuve don't know the work that earned him the Roberto Clemente award nomination, and even if they did, they would diminish it.
Many out there still believe, despite the overwhelming evidence otherwise, that he not only took part in the trash can portion of the sign-stealing (which he didn't) but wore buzzers and used other widely debunked methods to cheat. The video below says it all. (Graphic language)
"I'm telling you that of all the reporting I've done on the subject & it's a lot I found no evidence that there was a wire on any of them"@JeffPassan on the #Astros #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/GI3IbjtWfj
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 27, 2021
Altuve is so admired in his own clubhouse that the initial hate he got, including Cody Bellinger stating that Altuve stole the MVP award from Judge, is what led to Carlos Correa's infamous "If you don't know the facts, you gotta shut the f--- up."
It's also telling of Altuve's character that despite no direct involvement in the scandal, he still went to the initial press conference and apologized on behalf of himself and the team. He didn't make things about himself and try to clear his name on his own; instead, he went back to playing baseball and being the same person he's always been, which as this award nomination shows, is a good one.
He likely will not win the fan vote for the Roberto Clemente Award, despite all of Houston behind him, and the underlying reason for that is unwarranted and, maybe over time, as more people embrace the facts, can change.
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Left-hander Mitchell Parker threw seven shutout innings, and Luis Garcia Jr. had three singles and two RBIs and the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-0 on Sunday.
The Nationals have won three of their past four series after starting the season 2-6.
After allowing two runs over five innings last Monday in his major league debut, a 6-4 win over the L.A. Dodgers, Parker (2-0) was even more effective in his second major league start, allowing three hits, striking out eight and walking none, throwing 57 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
“He has so much poise," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "He’s ready. He gets the ball, ready to get back on the mound. I watched him today. He threw a ground ball. The play was made and he got right on the mound and was holding his glove up as if, ‘hey, come on, give me the ball, like I’m ready to get back on there’. It was cool to watch. He understands what he wants to do.”
Parker mixed his 85-87 mph splitter, 81-82 mph curveball and 92 mph four-seam fastball. He struck out Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña a combined four times. Dylan Floro and Matt Barnes each added a scoreless inning for Washington.
Parker was thrilled to be able to throw the splitter for strikes, something that did not come as easy against the Dodgers.
“100 percent, yeah," Parker said. "We were able to get in there for more swings and misses. They were more competitive pitches. Going to keep working on it, seeing if we can keep it where it is at.”
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown replaced scheduled starter Cristian Javier, who was scratched from Sunday’s series finale with neck discomfort. Javier was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to April 14, and right-hander Spencer Arrighetti was called up from Triple-A Sugar Land.
Manager Joe Espada said they have not decided yet on an MRI for Javier.
“Neck discomfort, started a few days ago,” Espada said. “He tried to work through it but just couldn’t happen. This kind of just came out of nowhere. So, we are going to see what happens here.”
Brown allowed three runs and three hits and a walk in the first but then settled down, lasting four innings when his pitch count reached 84.
“Even in the first I felt like made some good pitches," Brown said. "Came to the outing prepared. Kind of did what I wanted to and it just didn’t fall our way there.”
García Jr.’s two-run single to center field highlighted the three-run first inning for the Nationals.
“We try to score every inning,' Garcia Jr. said through a translator. "But definitely when we score the first inning it gives you a different kind of sense of confidence throughout the game and it carries on through the games a different feeling.”
Joey Meneses had a bases-loaded two-run single to right field off Shawn Dubin in the fifth to make it 5-0. Nick Senzel hit his first home run of the season in the sixth to close out the scoring.
The Astros' tailspin continues, having lost five of their past six and nine of their past 12.
“It is not ideal in the situation that we are in but we are in this situation,” Espada said. “And we got to fight through this. We have guys in there who are capable of giving us innings and some of them are doing that. We are going back to playing the style of baseball that everyone sees the Astros play. We feel pretty good about the guys that we have in there to get us some good innings."
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez threw again Sunday and has a chance of starting one of the games in Chicago his week. “We will see how he feels,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Once we see how he feels, we will start talking about the possibilities if he can pitch in Chicago or not.”
Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz said he is about “90 percent” recovered from the flu that placed him on the 10-day injured list on April 12. Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Ruiz will go on a rehab assignment this week to play a couple of games before returning to the club.
UP NEXT
Houston travels to Chicago to begin a three-game series against the Cubs on Tuesday. Espada confirmed JP France and Justin Verlander will start two of the games, but did not specify the order. Spencer Arrighetti, who was called up for Javier, is an option for the opener.
Washington has a day off before hosting the L.A. Dodgers on Tuesday night. Left-hander Patrick Corbin (0-3, 8.06 ERA) faces the Dodgers for the second consecutive start.