Altuve spent more time hitting and on his defense during the offseason than in previous years, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

EDGE Analysis

Altuve was the poster child of Houston's down year in 2020. His .630 OPS ranked 134th among 142 qualified hitters, and those struggles led to him swinging at pitches outside the zone (35.2 chase percentage) more often than in previous seasons. While his bat returned for the postseason, Altuve's errors in the field during gifted eight runs to the Rays. "That's one thing I have right now is motivation," Altuve said Wednesday. "I have a group of guys here that encourage each other and go out there and play. I'm taking everything to be encouragement and motivation right now." The Astros need Altuve to return to pre-2020 form, particularly now that George Springer is no longer on the team.