A championship makes Altuve and Correa best Astros ever

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Today on Granato and Raheel with Del, the guys had a discussion about the greatest Astros of all-time. Raheel posed the question, if this Astros team goes on to win a World Series, does that push Altuve or Correa into the conversation for best Astros ever? Of course, both players would have to continue piling up their numbers for many more years, but would a championship elevate them over Bagwell and Biggio?

Altuve’s numbers are pretty similar to Craig’s at this point in his career. On a per season average, Biggio has more homers (17 to 13), runs (105 to 89), and RBIs (67 to 64), but Altuve has a higher batting average (.312 to .281), more steals (38 to 24), and even more doubles than Biggio (41 to 38). So an argument can be made for Altuve if he continues on this pace and wins a World Series. Plus, Altuve’s power numbers have shown an uptick in the past couple seasons, so his career home run and RBI numbers may be a little misleading.

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Correa’s career is more of a projection because he has only played a little over two seasons worth of games. Altuve joined the big leagues during the 2011 season, so his sample size is much larger. Stacking Correa’s career against Bagwell’s at this point is probably a little premature, but Correa is averaging 29 home runs, and 108 RBIs per season, so far.

The guys didn’t come up with a definitive top 5, but Granato has Biggio and Bagwell at numbers one and two, with Nolan Ryan and Lance Berkman placing in the top five, as well.

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The pitching hasn’t even been mentioned and Raheel wonders if McCullers and Keuchel would crack the list if they had great performances that led to a championship. Pitching is so crucial in the playoffs, but finishing ahead of Nolan Ryan seems like a feat in longevity that I would not predict for anyone.

Finally, Granato cautions that Biggio and Bagwell are hall of fame players, and this is all contingent on Altuve and Correa winning a World Series and maintaining their career numbers for about another decade. A lot can happen over that span of time.

You can hear the entire segment below. Make sure you catch Granato and Raheel with Del weekdays from 9-11am CT on ESPN radio. You can listen live or on demand with the ESPN 97.5 radio app.