Dan P needs to cleanse his palette of all the “what can the Astros do if anything…”, “where are they headed”, “who should they trade-off” talk. It is exhausting.
I want to revisit a post from almost exactly 6 seasons ago during the “pause” season with the pandemic.
How does Altuve stack up against Biggio? – ALL THINGS ASTROS
We know Altuve still trails Biggio in many stats, but there are stats Altuve has put up that will likely never fall below the Hall of Famer. So….
Where does Altuve stack up against Biggio (36 y.o.) at the same point in their careers. Craig Biggio reached the same amount of plate appearances (8864) that Jose Altuve (36 y.o.)) has right now on June 8th, 2002. Biggio was about a half a year older than Jose at that point.
Honors. We will compare Jose (2011-2026) to Craig (1988-2002). Altuve has made nine All Star games, vs. Biggio’s seven. Jose has had seven Silver Sluggers to five for Craig and one Gold Glove to Craig’s four. Altuve has the one league MVP amid eight appearances in the top 20, while Biggio made five MVP top 20’s, topping out at #4 in 1997. So, Altuve has a bigger edge here today than he did in 2020.
Statistics
Here are career stats – Altuve through May 11, 2026 and Biggio through June 8, 2002…..
Biggio – .290 BA/ .380 OBP/ .435 SLG/ .815 OPS/ 1338 runs/ 452 Dbls/ 185 HRs
Altuve – .302 BA/ .360 OBP/ .464 SLG/ .824 OPS/ 1261 runs/ 465 Dbls/ 258 HRs
Biggio – 2199 hits/ 834 RBIs/ 373 SBs/ 1190 Ks/ 209 HBPs/ 933 BBs/ ~ 61 WAR
Altuve – 2426 hits/ 898 RBIs/ 326 SBs/ 1171 Ks/ 81 HBPs/ 672 BBs/ 53.4 WAR
In this six-year period, Biggio has narrowed the gap in batting average significantly, as he was behind by .029 before and by .012 in this comparison, and he also extended his OBP lead to .020. He also closed in on Altuve in OPS, down to only a .009 gap. This is also the period when Biggio became a human pincushion, getting HBP 115 times, while Altuve was hit only 32 times. It was also interesting that during this period, Biggio stole 75 more bases than Altuve, which may reflect the times more than Altuve’s skill. Biggio also pulled away to a 7.6 point lead in WAR, which is probably due to Altuve’s declining fielding numbers. At this point, Altuve is a lot closer to 3000 hits than Biggio was back in June 2002.
Playoffs
Through 2001, Biggio had 14 playoff games under his belt with a gawdawful .130 BA/ .242 OBP/ .390 OPS slash with 4 runs scored/0 HRs/ 1 RBIs. On the other hand, Altuve has played in 105 playoff games with a nice slash of .271 BA/ .337 OBP/ .841 OPS and 89 runs scored/ 27 HRs/ 56 RBIs.
This is an area that Altuve will always lead Biggio by a huge amount and may be one of his main calling cards at the Hall of Fame.
All in All
Jose Altuve stacks up very well against the Hall of Famer Craig Biggio at this point in his career. What we don’t know is how long Altuve will hang on and keep putting up numbers. From this point in his career onward, Biggio played in over 800 games and had over 3500 plate appearances. It must be stated that he would not have played that long if he were not chasing the Holy Grail of 3000 hits. Will Altuve do the same? He should reach 2500 hits this year. Does he need 3000 to get into the Hall?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
14 responses to “Redux: Altuve vs. Biggio”
Surprising. I don’t think Altuve will last as long as Bidge. Altuve is a real long shot for HOF without a couple more really good seasons
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RT
It will be interesting how they look at Altuve. He has some good stats already when you compare him to current players, but others not as high.
They have like 5 Hall of Fame ranking web sites they reference on Baseball Reference and he makes it on two of them and is short on 3
When they call out “similar to him through age 35 – he is up there with a number of Hall of Famers including Biggio, Ryne Sandberg, Joe Torre and George Brett.
I think his WAR number may hurt him – it is a bit below the average H of F numbers and with his negative fielding stats he may even go down. If…..the Astros traded Yordan and made him their DH, his WAR might benefit from it. (But not the reason to do that)
I feel like his post season numbers will help him. I feel like no matter what he does they will make him wait because of “IT” scandal. A couple solid seasons sure would help.
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My least favorite topic is comparing these two. They played in different eras. Biggio had to try and make his way through a sport riddled with steroid giants. He was never thought of as a bus driver. But really, he was. Probably should have been the MVP of the 1997 season.
Altuve played when the steroid driven nintendo numbers were gone. He was considered the bus driver of the Houston Astros mini-dynasty despite playing with some pretty darned good players. Can you imagine what Springer, Correa, or Bregman would have been if they played in 1993 and were juicing? Probably healthier, stronger, and hitting moonshots. Geez can you imagine Kyle Tucker with 20-25 lbs of packed muscle? The league would need to beware that one.
Altuve is probably, slightly, the better hitter with more power. Biggio is far and away the best defensive second baseman of his generation, much less the better of those two. Biggio posted a 65.5 WAR and Altuve is at 53.5 and unlikely to go up much because his defensive stats would kill any offensive production. From 1992-1998 Craig Biggio was a vacuum at 2B, averaging well over 5 plays per 9 – Altuve’s best year was 4.89 and most years he was a lower 4s. Biggio did end up with a negative dWar career wise but that considers his less than stellar OF years and his well past prime years back at 2B.
Biggio also just didn’t make baserunning mistakes. Altuve makes them in bundles.
When it comes to just pure, standing in the batters box – Altuve is probably an edge. But every other aspect of the game, Craig Biggio was the superior player. And of course, those playoffs numbers stand out. In Biggio’s defense, the Astros were not perennial playoff contenders and the Astros kept bumping into Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz when they did get there. If you isolate Biggio’s postseason numbers outside of 90s Atlanta series, they never lost a series because of him. But against Atlanta from 1997-2001 in the playoffs, 5-43 with 2 walks, those three cats killed a lot of guys career playoff numbers.
As for Tuve and the hall, I have to think he is in. Baseball is different. I don’t know how many 3000 hits guys will come around anymore. Pitchers are throwing harder, striking out more people, becoming more and more specialized, guys are always reinventing themselves. Yea, we still have great years from a handful of guys, but in the 90s in any given year there were around a dozen guys having nintendo stats. Metrics and how they historically stack are going to have to adjust in the modern era for these 60 and 70 year HoF voters.
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Dan, I don’t think it’s a comparison between Altuve and Biggio. The barometer for the HOF has generally been the “best player in their generation”. Obviously Biggio and Altuve played in different eras.
Altuve already has better stats — and a better WAR — than Kirby Puckett and others. And, oh yeah, Puckett’s in the hall. Dizzy Dean (150 wins) and Sandy Koufax (165) are in the HOF and they played only 12 seasons each.
Is Altuve among the best of this era. I would say it’s arguable. In other words, you can make a case ‘for’ and one ‘against’. I also agree that another good-to-great season and maybe another All Star nod or two can put him over the top.
Now, here’s a question: Is Altuve or Biggio the best player who’s ever played second base for the Astros?
In my all-time team posted a few years ago, I took the easy way out of answering that question. I put Biggio and catcher and Altuve at second. But then you push Alan Ashby off the list. Here’s that post from a while back.
https://chipalatta.com/2025/03/05/greatest-hits-the-all-time-astros-team/
So is Biggio or Altuve the best to ever play second base for Houston?
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As my kids might say in response to the Altuve v. Biggio question the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” However, I feel like for both their entire careers there has been a loud segment of fans from across the country who just want to find reasons to tear them down. I fully understand fans in Boston and NY hating Altuve for how many times he made them cry. I don’t understand the Biggio criticism. Along with the steroid era inflating his peers to Herculean physiques, he was playing a lot of games in the Astrodome where fly balls went to die. He made it work for him by putting the ball on the turf and manufacturing extra bases. I think if we’re discussing best 2B ever who came through Houston we need to include Joe Morgan, Bill Doran, Jeff Kent, and probably a couple more guys alongside Biggio and Altuve in the discussion. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter to me which was the best.
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Well a win tonight but I was not impressed. How many times were the bases loaded and we didn’t score a run. Altuve had two RBI’s but was 0 for 3. Walker a home run, and 6,7, and 8 hitters (AAA) went 7 for 14. That was basically the difference. Pitching was good (even LMJ) except for King who blew a save opportunity in the 9th with 3 walks and a hit. I said we’d probably only win two out of the next 7. Please prove me wrong by winning more.
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Good morning! I am back home in the Atlantic.
Someone had to win that game last night. Seattle obviously has their own imperfections. Nine good innings by the home team today gets the Astros a split and with it, hope, at least in some quarters. Dana, that would have been a tough loss last night.
Castillo against Burrows looks like a pretty good matchup right now.
There was Lance out here teasing again.
7 hits from the 6, 7, 8 rookies.
Abreu threw another mostly clean inning.
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Dave, I suppose, with you being back at home in the Atlantic, that you are in peak health once again! Great news my friend!
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Thanks Sarge, I’m getting there!
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Right now some Mariners corner fan blog is going off about 1-13 with RISP, that they had a combined 9 hits and walks on McCullers and just left everyone on base, that they couldn’t take advantage of a pitcher that was just 11 of 24 on first pitch strikes. They spent all night ahead of the count but they just can’t hit. Miller had clearly out pitched his opponent but LMJ hit those corners just enough – especially on Naylor in what turned a walk into a strikeout and may have been Vazquez’s best challenge of the year.
I’m convinced at this point that Vazquez should just be the starter even when Yainer is back (which looks to be a little while). Last night he had 2nd and 3rd less than two outs, just needed to put the ball in play, he knew the situation, so he put the ball in play. It just wasn’t quite deep enough. That’s going to happen. But Diaz in that spot strikes out because the moment hasn’t caught him. Yainer is clearly a better hitter, he just isn’t a smarter hitter. And right now, this pitching staff probably needs Vazquez’s stewardship more. I’m under no illusions, Christian is probably hitting .220 by the end of the year, and he probably knows its his Crash Davis moment, so lets take advantage of it.
Altuve looked silly in that spot. Struck out on slider/sweeper so far out of the zone that I was embarrassed watching it. What I did like – it was obvious to him, the staff, and probably the guy selling peanuts that the next time he was in that spot they would try and pepper the outside the zone, and he worked back a bad count to a walk not chasing. His next at bat with bases full he again laid off a few outside pitches until Bazardo laid one in the middle of the plate, clearly a mistake pitch, and he put in deep CF to tie the game. Big at bats from Altuve, getting things to work when he is not swinging well. And if it was Joe or one of his staff members that had a coaching moment after that strikeout, great job guys. I take back everything bad I ever said about you. Well, you still don’t know how to handle a pitching staff, so maybe not everything.
I hate to call some non-descript game in May the most important of the year, but a split is so vital. Even if its just for the psyche of the team. 17-28 is a step closer to becoming sellers, 18-27 is at least a pause and wait another series.
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Thoughts
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Dan – in reference to Biggio, 123 of 185 of his playoff plate appearances happened after the age of 38. Between 1991 and 2003 he played in a total of 4 playoff series, 3 of those against the Braves pitching. The 6-32 in the 2004 NLCS against St. Louis in that series loss is the yolk he wears forever, but he hit .295 in the 2005 playoffs helping them get to that fateless WS. They didn’t lose that WS because of Craig Biggio. If he had Altuve’s sample size in the playoffs or played in them more often in his best years he probably would have added a few hot streaks and had better overall playoff numbers. Greg Maddux was mean to a lot of people.
I haven’t heard alot of thanks to the Mariners poor defense. Bazardo threw out number 1 into CF leading to the 1st and 2nd with no outs. Altuve doesn’t tie the game up if Raleigh makes a fairly easy play to 1st on Vazquez instead of falling down and not throwing. Brice probably doesn’t advance if Garver isn’t catching that passed ball. We played solid D all night and the Mariners lost because they did not.
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Yeah, but…..
I loved Craig – he was the one guy whose uniform was covered with dirt between the bases and the fielding by the second inning.
And it is totally true that he did not have the sample size in his prime years that Altuve had, but there is no way he was going to put up that 89 runs/ 27 HRs/ 56 RBIs (leading off) line in 105 playoff games – that is on pace for 137 runs/42 RBIs/ 86 RBIs over 162 games.
And Jose did some prime time hitting off some tough pitching – the 3 homers against the Red Sox (2 against Chris Sale) in the first game of the 2017 ALDS. The walk off against Aroldis Chapman in 2019 ALCS. And on and on.
Yeah – the Astros have been good at taking advantage of poor fielding on the other side – against the M’s – against the Angels – etc.
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But yeah, Steven – I would love to go into baseball battle with someone as baseball smart, intense, focused, talented and flexible position-wise as Biggio. I think he, Bagwell and Bregman are the players with the most baseball intelligence we have had.
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