Astros 2nd baseman, Jose Altuve is the smallest player in Major League Baseball. At a height of five feet and six inches, he is considered one of the best in the league. Although he lives the dream now, his life didn’t start out that way. Jose was born on May 26, 1990 in Maracay, Venezuela. He started playing baseball as a kid and fell in love with the game. Everyday his dad and him would go down to the baseball field to hit or play catch. So when he heard that the Houston Astros were holding a tryout in his hometown, he jumped at the opportunity. At the tryout no scouts wanted him, but his father motivated him to try out one more day as there was one scout left. So the next day he went to the tryout and was told that if they wanted you, they would call. The next day that last scout gave Jose a call giving him an opportunity to play in the states.

Altuve came in playing for the Astros single A baseball team to start off, but soon worked his way up as he batted .324 in 45 games for the Greeneville Astros. Altuve was promoted to the Corpus Christi Hooks in 2011 where he hit a stellar .361 at bat to go along with his league leading 24 steals.

Altuve was called up to the major league in the summer of 2011, skipping the triple A level. That season Jose hit a .346 before going into a slump and ending his rookie season with a .226 average in his 21 games. In 2012, Jose Altuve was selected in his first All-Star game, leading to him signing a 4 year contract extension worth 12.5 million dollars for the Astros. Now closing the 2017 season, Altuve has successfully lead the Astros to a World Series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, in a thriller seven game series.