Detroit — Jose Altuve is 36 years old. He’s got two World Series rings, an MVP trophy, three batting titles, a .301 career batting average and .823 career OPS. He and the Houston Astros arrived in Detroit late Wednesday night after playing in Toronto.
And yet, there he was, four-plus hours before first pitch Thursday, taking several rounds of early batting practice.
“Jose is a terrific example of work ethic, of mindset, of competitiveness and being able to handle adversity,” said Tigers manager AJ Hinch, who managed Altuve in Houston. “Nothing has ever been given to this guy and he continues to try to improve into his 30s.”
As Altuve was grinding, Tigers rookie Hao-Yu Lee was standing in front of the dugout, intently watching every swing.
“I wanted to watch him hit,” Lee said. “Because when we were in Houston, I got a double and he told me he really liked my swing. On that double, I didn’t get a barrel. But he said, ‘If you’ve got a good swing, you get good results.’”
You can imagine the impact those words had on Lee, who at 23 is still cutting his teeth in the big leagues.
“I was so happy,” Lee said. “He might be a Hall of Famer. A Hall-of-Fame player told me he liked my swing. Pretty awesome.”
Since coming back to the big leagues for a second time this season, Lee has looked like a different hitter. In 11 games this month, he’s slashing .382/.400/.529 with a .929 OPS.
“I think his belief in himself has grown,” Hinch said. “I see him interact more in our hitters meetings. He will poke fun back at these guys after they give him a little bit of a hard time. Overall, as a teammate, he’s doing what young guys should do: Be pretty quiet on the front end of your career and learn and grow and open up and digest all of it along the way.”
Lee was hitting under .200 at the end of May. But, working with the Michael Brdar and the Tigers’ hitting coaches, he made a subtle but explosive adjustment to his swing.
“The hitting coaches helped me a lot,” Lee said. “I’ve been just doing what they want me to do and the result is good.”
They adjusted the way Lee’s top hand comes through the swing.
“They saw I wasn’t pulling the ball a lot,” Lee said. “They told me to turn the barrel and it started to get better. It’s helped me a lot.”
Using his top hand, the hammer hand, to drive the barrel through the hitting zone has helped him start hitting the ball harder more consistently. He’s still getting his fair share of hits to the opposite field, but his average exit velocity has gone up.
His two hits on Wednesday left his bat at 101.6 and 101.9 mph.
“It’s something he’s done his whole minor league career,” Hinch said. “You always hope these guys replicate the success they had in the minor leagues in the big leagues. But there needs to be some comfort and some confidence that comes with that. We’re starting to see some of that confidence in the box, in his zone control and in executing his game plan.”
It got Altuve’s attention.
“The league is full of guys to follow,” Hinch said. “I ask all of our young guys to just pay attention to how great players go about their business. There is a lot of guys to follow but Hao-Yu is right. He should follow Jose Altuve.
“I’m glad to hear Lee went out and watched him work. I consider myself lucky to have crossed paths with Jose and watch him mature as a player and a man and a husband and father. Really glad our young guys notice.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Hao-Yu Lee savors encouraging encounter with Astros star
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
