The Venezuelan José Altuve has had a great season that went under the table before the magnifying glass of some fans and experts, but this is not the case for the votes for the Hank Aaron Award, in its 2022 edition, in which the player from The Houston Astros are listed as one of 16 finalists, eight in each circuit, according to Major League Baseball.
The award, which has been given since 1999, recognizes the player with the most impressive offense in each of the leagues.
Like every year, the 30 teams that make up the big top nominated one of their players for the distinction and a panel of MLB.com writers selected the 16 finalists within that group.
Altuve, 32, finished the 2022 regular season, his 11th major league start, with a .300/.387/.533 offensive line, with 39 doubles, 28 home runs and 57 RBIs. This was the sixth season of his successful career in which the waiter closed with an offensive average of .300 points or more and was just two stolen bases away from scoring a 20-20 season.
Also, the winner of the award for the Most Valuable Player of the American League in 2017 finished fourth in the circuit in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage. As if that weren’t enough, his 103 runs scored were the second most.
The Venezuelan is accompanied by Yordan Álvarez, Rafael Devers, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, José Ramírez and Julio Rodríguez as finalists for the young circuit. Meanwhile, in the National League, the contenders are Pete Alonso, Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Manny Machado, Austin Riley and Kyle Schwarber.
