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At five-feet-six, Houston Astros superstar Jose Altuve is not someone who comes across as a dominant big league batter at first glance. In reality, however, the Venezuelan is one of the most formidable sluggers in the majors.
Appearing on Saturday's episode of "The Pivot Podcast," New York Yankees legend CC Sabathia pointed to Altuve's career to opine that baseball is a 'special' sport that allows athletes to enjoy tremendous success despite not "looking the part". The same would not necessarily be the case in other top leagues, such as the NBA and NFL.
"There are people that are unassuming [and successful in the big leagues]. Jose Altuve [for example], one of the best hitters that we've ever seen, probably going to the Hall of Fame, and he's minuscule," Sabathia said [55:39].
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"Baseball is cool in that way, that anybody with enough and hard work can make it to the big leagues," he added.
How Jose Altuve went from being declared "too short" to a bona fide Houston Astros legend
When he was 16, Jose Altuve headed over to Maracay, which is about an hour and a half's drive away from his hometown of Puerto Cabello, to take part in a Houston Astros tryout camp.
Initially, the diminutive slugger was promptly rejected, with scouts claiming he was "too short" to be successful at the big league level. However, former big leaguer Al Pedrique, who was a special assistant for the franchise at the time, decided to give the youngster a shot.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions in Houston Astros franchise history. Altuve immediately impressed onlookers with his talent and was signed as an international free agent in March of 2007.
Moving stateside the following year, Altuve worked his way through the minors and impressed at every level. He was eventually promoted to the big leagues in July of 2011 and has been a regular ever since.
Continuing to improve as he gained experience, Altuve won the AL MVP award in 2017, leading the Astros to their first-ever World Series title, before repeating the feat five years later.
With nine All-Star caps and seven Silver Slugger awards under his belt, along with a host of other notable honors, Jose Altuve is sure to go down as one of the best players in Astros history. Things could have been so different for both the player and the franchise had selectors not looked past Altuve's unassuming physical stature.
