HOUSTON – As the Astros host Kansas City this week, second baseman Jose Altuve is not just battling the Royals' Omar Infante in the series, but for a spot on the MLB All-Star team.
Statistically, Altuve is leading Infante with a batting average of .292 versus Infante's .237, and Altuve has 12 more runs scored than Infante, seven more RBIs and 20 more stolen bases. Altuve has six home runs compared with zero for Infante.
Altuve also leads Infante with a .739 on base plus slugging percentage statistic, called OPS, compared with Infante's .562.
Despite this, Altuve trails Infante for the American League All-Star balloting by almost 230,000 votes, as of Monday's numbers.
Voting closes on Thursday and is free to the public. You can vote a total of 35 times on the Major League Baseball website.
The last Astros player to start for an All-Star team was Lance Berkman in 2008 when Houston was still in the National League.