MLB Analyst Talks Houston Astros Superstar's Hall-of-Fame Future

Houston Astros veteran Jose Altuve has done plenty in his Major League career, and one analyst likes his future resume for Cooperstown.

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve returned home with his team in first place in the American League West and having added another first to his growing resume.

While the Astros swept the Texas Rangers, Altuve did the following (per OptaStats):

He homered four times in a span of four innings (Monday and Tuesday) and became the second MLB player to do so, joining Bobby Lowe (May 30, 1894), which happened to the first four-homer game in MLB history.

Within a seven-game period Altuve hit home runs in four consecutive at-bats and hit for the cycle, becoming the second MLB player to do so, joining Jimmie Foxx, who did it in 1933.

Altuve hit five home runs in two days and in a span of seven innings, the shortest span in team innings for a player to hit five home runs in MLB history.

The sheer enormity of what Altuve did led Mark DeRosa to comment on Altuve’s post-playing career status on MLB Central.

“In my mind he’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer,” DeRosa said.

Along with what he’s done in the last week, Altuve also passed the 2,000-hit mark in August, joining Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell as the only Astros to have at least 2,000 hits in their career with the team.

Altuve now has 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases. He reached those marks faster than Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays.

Altuve is among the top six hitters in run creation the past two seasons, along with the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, Houston’s Yordan Alvarez, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts.

DeRosa said there’s little question in his mind that those are the six best hitters in the game and the contrast between players like Altuve and Judge is great for the game.

“We’ve watched this stratospheric rise for him (since his rookie season), so to watch him do it at 5-6, 5-7, and then to watch Judge do it at 6-7, (Giancarlo) Stanton just hit his 400th homer, that’s the beauty of our sport,” DeRosa said.