HOUSTON -- It’s not surprising that teams might try to test Jose Altuve’s arm from left field, considering he’s been playing outfield for only a couple of months. The Mariners found out Friday night that it isn’t always the best of ideas.
Altuve made a terrific throw from left field in the sixth inning to get Cal Raleigh for an out at the plate, preserving a one-run lead before Raleigh made up for it an inning later when he clubbed a two-run homer off reliever Bryan Abreu to send the Mariners to a 5-3 win over the Astros at Daikin Park.
“I was told that it was out there the other day -- I don’t read social media -- that he’s got the worst arm or something like that,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I don’t read any of that stuff, but that looked pretty damn good to me. That was a pretty strong throw and accurate throw. It did not look like bad arm strength at all.”
Friday’s game was the 1,850th of Altuve’s career, tying him for third place with Jose Cruz on Houston’s all-time games played list behind Hall of Famers Craig Biggio (2,850) and Jeff Bagwell (2,150). It was only his 28th in left field.
Altuve’s move to left field was one of baseball’s biggest storylines of the spring, considering he had established himself as one of the game’s top second basemen over the past decade. He had started 1,749 games at second base entering 2025, but the Astros saw diminishing defense at the position and moved him to left field.
Altuve has held his own defensively in left with a -2 outs above average (entering Friday) that was perhaps better than some expected. Among qualified left fielders, he has the lowest average arm strength on competitive throws at 79.9 mph, but his sixth-inning throw to get Raleigh was a stout 85.5 mph.
“I was behind home plate so I got the full view of it and it was a laser on the line,” Astros reliever Shawn Dubin said.
Raleigh was on second when Leody Taveras hit a ball into left field and Raleigh hesitated briefly to make sure it wouldn’t be caught. Seattle third-base coach Kristopher Negrón still sent the slow-footed catcher home, and Altuve threw a one-hopper to catcher Yainer Diaz, who applied the tag to the sliding Raleigh for the out.
"Obviously we're still going to have somebody in scoring position there,” Raleigh said. “And we were aggressive there, and it didn't pay off. If the throw is a little bit to the right or little bit to the left, maybe we're having a different conversation. So we're just playing aggressive."
Mariners manager Dan Wilson liked the aggressiveness.
“That's what we do,” he said. “And I think we're going to continue to be aggressive. Sometimes we're going to get thrown at home. That's just part of the game."
The outfield assist was Altuve’s second of the season, but his first on a direct throw. The other assist came May 2 in Chicago when Edgar Quero of the White Sox hit a double over Altuve’s head that one-hopped the wall. Altuve recovered to throw a relay throw to shortstop Jeremy Peña, who threw out Luis Robert Jr. at the plate.
Altuve has five hits in the first two games of the series against the Mariners. He swatted two homers and had four RBIs in Thursday's win over Seattle and he had singles in his first three-at-bats Friday -- one to right field in the first, a blooper to center in the third and a one to left in the fifth.
“He’s starting to get the results that he’s been trying to work towards, but he’s getting good hitters counts and I like what I see,” Espada said. “He’s starting to heat up at the right time.”
Altuve is starting to hit the ball in the air more after posting his highest ground-ball percentage of his career through the team’s first 50 games.
“Even the soft single over the shortstop, that was a changeup, but he kept his hands back and he was able to keep the ball in the air instead of beating the ball in the ground,” Espada said. “That’s a great sign of Jose making the adjustment needed to create consistent, positive results.”