Last Updated on August 3, 2025 by Matt Musico
Houston Astros veteran Jose Altuve doesn’t look like your typical home run hitter. I mean, when you’re listed at 5’6” and 167 pounds, people aren’t going to expect you to slug balls over the wall every night.
And in today’s game, you’ll never see him among the league leaders in that category (especially since he’s closer to the end of his career than the start of it).
But the power of consistency and longevity has him among the franchise’s all-time home run leaders.
As of July 30, Altuve has slugged 247 taters as a member of the Astros. That currently ranks fourth on Houston’s all-time list, behind Jeff Bagwell (449), Lance Berkman (326), and Craig Biggio (291).
Altuve is playing in his age-35 campaign, but he hasn’t shown much in the way of slowing down just yet.
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The Moment When Altuve Found His Home Run Stroke
Jose Altuve is a perfect example of someone who came into his own from the perspective of power. Between 2011 and 2014, he slugged a total of 21 home runs in 2,243 plate appearances. He never hit more than seven dingers in a single season.
But from 2015 to 2025, Altuve has reached double digits each time, outside of 2020 (he hit five in 210 plate appearances). This period has included six different efforts of 20-plus homers and two years with at least 30 taters. He’s also on the verge of surpassing the 20-homer plateau again this year. Altuve has slugged 17 dingers through his first 443 plate appearances.
The right-handed hitter has shown some interesting consistency in the power department during his career. Altuve has hit seven homers twice (2012, 2014). He’s also hit 24 homers twice (2016, 2017). As if that wasn’t already ironic enough, he’s hit 31 homers twice (2019, 2021).
It’s fun to see the increase in power production he had after the first portion of his career. Between 2011 and 2015, he had just one double-digit homer performance (15 in 2015) and averaged 7.2 dingers per year. From 2016-24, that number has jumped up to 21.4.
Where Could He Be On the Leaderboard By The End of His Contract?
As I mentioned above, Altuve is currently playing in his age-35 campaign. We should expect his production to start declining at some point. That doesn’t appear to be the case this year, though.
While his batting average is a little lower through his first 447 plate appearances this season, he’s still been an above-average offensive producer. He’s slashing .284/.345/.465 with 18 homers, 17 doubles, 57 RBI, and 59 runs scored. His overall performance has been worth just 1.4 fWAR thus far. Although part of that can be attributed to his offense, it’s not much different than last year. He posted a .791 OPS and 128 wRC+ in 2024. Those numbers are currently at .810 and 123, respectively.
Altuve’s fWAR is being held down by his position switch from second base to the outfield. We’ll see if he either gets better there or if he ends up playing elsewhere on the diamond.
Either way, 2025 is the start of a five-year, $125 million deal for the two-time World Series champion. Based on his current pace, Altuve may slug anywhere between five and 10 homers by Game 162.
Let’s stay conservative and say he hits five more. That’d give him 23 on the year and 252 for his career. And let’s say he averages about 15 homers per season over the final four years of his contract. That’d come out to 60 more homers, hypothetically bringing his career total to 311.
It seems like he’ll be locked into third on the Astros’ all-time home run leaderboard behind Bagwell and Berkman. All he’ll really need to do is average about 10 homers per year during the next four seasons to give him a chance to pass Biggio.
Not bad for a dude who hit just 21 homers through his first 2,243 trips to the plate in the big leagues.
And…What About That Postseason Homer Crown?
OK, so the Astros’ all-time home run record seems securely out of Altuve’s reach. But there is one that he’s on the cusp of breaking…
MLB’s all-time postseason home run record. Manny Ramirez is the current leader with 29 playoff taters. Altuve is right behind him in second place with 27 October dingers.
The 35-year-old has been aided by countless deep runs into the postseason with Houston over the past decade, which has helped him get to this point. The Astros have played in October nine times since 2015, including seven straight trips to the ALCS between 2017 and 2024.
They look primed to join the postseason fun again in 2025. Before games on July 31, they’re 62-47 and hold a decently comfortable lead in the American League West over the Seattle Mariners.
Altuve passing ManRam on the all-time postseason home run leaderboard just feels like a matter of time when looking at the overall situation. While he’s been included in controversy along the way (*cough* sign-stealing scandal *cough*), eventually doing this will make many current and former undersized ballplayers (myself included) very happy.
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