Major League Baseball announced that 2B Jose Altuve and DH Yordan Alvarez were named starters for the MLB All-Star Game.
This is the fourth time in franchise history for the Astros to have multiple starters in the same season, which also occurred in 1997 (two), 2017 (three) and 2019 (three).
This is Altuve’s ninth All-Star nod and the sixth start. Altuve already owns the most All-Star nominations in team history and joins Hall of Famers Roberto Alomar (9) and Rod Carew (6) as the only AL second basemen to win six fan elections. This season, he earned his starting assignment by topping the Rangers 2B Marcus Semien, taking 55% of the total votes. Altuve is having another stellar season, hitting .308 (106×344) with 17 doubles, 13 homers, 38 RBI, 13 stolen bases, and a .828 OPS in 83 games.
Alvarez is now a three-time All-Star and will make his first starting assignment after making the AL team as a reserve in 2022 and 2023. He is now the first Houston designated hitter to win the honor. Alvarez topped the Orioles DH Ryan O’Hearn in the final fan vote, garnering 52% of the votes. The Astros DH and left fielder is hitting .297 (93×313) with 19 doubles, 18 homers, 46 RBI, and a .910 OPS in 82 games this season.
Kyle Tucker was named as an All-Star reserve on Sunday. The Astros right fielder was in the AL MVP conversation earlier this season but has been sidelined with a right shin contusion since June 7. In 60 games this season, Tucker is hitting .266 (57×214) with 11 doubles, 19 homers, 40 RBI, 10 stolen bases and a .979 OPS.
Historically, the last time the Astros had multiple fan-elected starters was in 2019 (OF Michael Brantley, 3B Alex Bregman, and OF George Springer). They also had three in 2017 (Altuve, Springer, SS Carlos Correa) and two in 1997 (1B Jeff Bagwell, 2B Craig Biggio).