Jose Altuve Joins Rarefied Air

Jose Altuve put together one of the most impressive seasons with his 2014 American League batting and hits titles. Altuve finished with a .341 batting average with 225 hits. Now consider this, Altuve's 225 hits places him in 3rd place All-Time for Hits by a Latino Ballplayer.

Now keeping in mind of such sluggers that have recently played the game as Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltran, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Nelson Cruz, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero and Latino legends such as Roberto Clemente, Vic Power (Victor Pellot), Tony Oliva and Pedro Guerrero, Altuve had more hits in his 2014 season than all those players ever did in an individual season. Now consider that the record most hits in one season is 262 hits, which is held by Ichiro Suzuki, here are the two Latinos to have more hits that Jose Altuve

Rod Carew
At the age of 31, Panamanian Rod Carew put up a career high 239 hits during the 1977 season in which he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award while a member of the Minnesota Twins. 1977 was also a career year for Carew in terms of batting average. Carew hit .388 that season with 38 doubles, 16 triples and 14 home runs while driving in 100 runs and scoring 128 runs.

Matteo Alou
One of the famed trio of Alou Brothers from the Dominican Republic, Matteo Alou racked up a career high 231 hits for the 1969 Pittsburgh Pirates. Alou batted .331 with a league leading 41 doubles, 6 triples and 1 home run while driving in 48 runs and scoring 105 runs.

Jose Altuve
What's impressive about Altuve's 2014 season is that he was able to do so at the young age of 24. Altuve batted a career high .341 with a career high 225 hits. He raked 47 doubles, 3 triples and 7 home runs with 59 Runs batted in and 85 runs scored. Add to that, the league leading 56 stolen bases that Altuve swiped.

Will Altuve get much AL MVP consideration outside of Houston? The front runners are currently Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones and Victor Martinez. I think it will be hard for Altuve to win the AL MVP though if I had a vote, he'd be my pick. What do you think, does he have a chance to win AL MVP?

Hasta la próxima, no dejamos de jugar el Beisbol,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here to access Jose Altuve's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access Rod Carew's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access Matteo Alou's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click here to access the Single-Season Leaders & Records for Hits from Baseball Reference.com

Los Mets Al Sabor Venezolano

In keeping with the country of focus in the last post (Venezuela), I wanted to touch on the state of Latinos on the most Latino populated team in the Major Leagues: The New York Mets.

As spring training has begun for the 2010 Major League Season, the New York Mets have kept up with their nickname under GM Omar Minaya: Los Mets. Since Minaya took over the reins of GM in 2004, he has tapped into the Latino market by signing big named free agents Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran among many. This season is no different.

Though Minaya did not have a blockbuster Latino free agent signing this off-season, the Mets’ roster is full of Latino ballplayers. Let’s look at the Venezuela contingent.

Los Venezolanos (in clockwise order, photo property of the Topps Company)are made up of staff ace Johan Santana (Tovar, VZ), outfielder Fernando Nieve (Puerto Cabello), pitcher Kelvim Escobar (La Sabana), catcher Henry Blanco (Caracas) and closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez (Caracas). This marks the first time that five Venezuelans would be playing on the same team. Having Venezolanos on the roster for the Mets is not a rarity. Since their first Venezolano in 1962 (Elio Chacon), the Mets will have had 30 players from Venezuela on their rosters. The Latino presence is not limited to only Venezuela. The Mets have players from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, as well as, players born in the United States of Latino descent.

Here is the list of potential Latinos on the Mets opening day roster:

Johan Santana (Venezuela)
Francisco Rodriguez (Venezuela)
Fernando Nieve (Venezuela)
Henry Blanco (Venezuela)
Kelvim Escobar (Venezuela)
Jose Reyes (Dominican Republic)
Anderson Hernandez (Dominican Republic)
Luis Castillo (Dominican Republic)
Fernando Martinez (Dominican Republic)
Fernando Tatis (Dominican Republic)
Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico)
Pedro Feliciano (Puerto Rico)
Omir Santos (Puerto Rico)
Alex Cora (Puerto Rico)
Angel Pagan (Puerto Rico)
Oliver Perez (Mexico)
Arturo Lopez (Mexico)
Rod Barajas (California)

Even if half of these players don’t make the 25-man roster that would still leave the Mets with nine Latinos on the opening day roster. That would still be an impressive representation.

Que Viva Los Mets!!!

Hasta
FH