Watching every Jose Altuve strikeout is as thrilling as it sounds (Video)

Jose Altuve’s 2020 season has been great for everyone but Jose Altuve

The 30-year-old former MVP and All-Star is as embattled as they come, with the Astros sign-stealing scandal failing to fade into the background of a shortened MLB season. The reason for this is obvious — in similar fashion to the Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose’s gambling, it’s a stain on baseball, and not one that will wash out anytime soon.

Altuve’s struggles are well-documented, and it’s unclear whether or not the animosity towards he and his teammates has anything to do with a career-low batting average. His self-imposed demotion in Houston’s lineup hasn’t produced many results thus far, either.

While some reasonable people would feel bad for Altuve, baseball fans aren’t reasonable people

The world-renowned @AsteriskTour Twitter account (yes, we’re giving him/her those kinds of props), put together a short montage of all of Altuve’s strikeouts. No buzzers in sight, it’s simply beautiful.

New manager Dusty Baker told the media how hard Altuve is taking his personal strife (as if we were supposed to feel bad) last week. Sitting at .184 on the year, Altuve’s batting average and statistical glory should eventually return, even if a laughable side-effect of internal pressure right now.

It’s a cop-out to assume the Astros had this coming, but if there’s anything Rob Manfred’s report was lacking, it was some form of punishment for the players involved. Instead, Manfred and MLB granted Altuve and the like anonymity in exchange for details, all of which it’s pretty safe to assume they didn’t reveal. Instead, AJ Hinch, Jeff Luhnow, Alex Cora and Carlos Beltran were banned for a year or more, and rightly so.

Altuve’s struggles likely have far more to do with the uncertain status of the current MLB season than anything else, but for now, it’s fun to presume it’s the alternative.