Houston Astros superstar Jose Altuve has been a hitting machine since he entered the majors in 2011. In a four-year stretch from 2014-17, he led the majors in hits with more than 200 in each of those seasons. Currently, he leads the 2024 season in base knocks with 31.
On Wednesday night, Buster Olney alerted fans that Altuve had passed Hall of Famer Chuck Klein and tied Hall of Famer Scott Rolen (and then passed him later in the evening) on the all-time list for hits. Olney also pointed out that Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Gary Carter are both within striking distance.
Altuve hasn’t quite reached the age of 34 and is signed by the Astros through the 2029 season, so these won’t be the last Hall of Famers he passes.
He’s averaged 146 hits over his last three seasons. If he does that through 2029, that will put him just under 3,000 hits, at 2,923. He only played in 90 games last year so that pulled the number of hits down by quite a bit. Unless injuries severely hamper him the rest of his career, that magical mark of 3,000 hits is well within the realm of possibility.
Altuve may not be the most popular player outside of the Astros fanbase due to the sign-stealing cheating scandal from 2017. Regardless, Altuve can rake and is one of the best and most successful players over the last decade or so. He’s an eight-time All-star, an MVP, a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a one-time Gold Glove winner.
He has a career batting average of .308, with 408 doubles, 214 home runs and 295 stolen bases to go with his 2,078 hits. He could very easily finish his career with over 3,000 hits, 500 doubles, 300 home runs and 350 stolen bases.
Altuve has 2,078 hits currently ranks him at 251st all time. With just 122 more hits this season, which would leave him right at 2,200, he would leap all the way up the list to 188th. He would pass 12 other Hall of Fame players this season if he remains healthy. And that is if he just gets 122 more hits.
Only time will determine if the sign-stealing scandal will affect his chance at the Hall of Fame, but it should serve as only a footnote in what has already been an incredible career. He’s going to be passing a lot of Hall of Famers on a lot of career lists as his career winds down.