Hao-Yu Lee was standing on second after smacking a ball into the left field corner in Houston, and here came Jose Altuve. The three-time batting champ wanted to commend the rookie on his swing.
"It was a great pitch, breaking ball down and in, and he got to it really well and hit a double," Altuve said Friday, more than a week later. "That was impressive, so he got to second and I went over there and told him, 'That was a great swing and great at-bat. I like the way you hit that ball.' Hopefully he gets more and more like that, and hits a lot of doubles."
Second among active big-leaguers in doubles and hits, Altuve might not have thought twice about the exchange. But it meant the world to the 23-year-old Lee, who's starting to find his way in the majors.
“I was so happy,” Lee said Thursday, via the Detroit News. “He might be a Hall of Famer. A Hall-of-Fame player told me he liked my swing. Pretty awesome.”
Once upon a time, Altuve was on the receiving end of such comments from stars like Miguel Cabrera. When Altuve was breaking into the bigs in 2011 as an undersized right-handed hitter, the giant of all righties often complimented his swing when they crossed paths on the bases: "Miggy used to do it a lot," he said with a smile. "Obviously that feels good, and encourages you to keep working and get better."
Altuve developed a close relationship with Cabrera over the years, often calling him to talk about hitting and opposing pitchers: "He really helped me in my career." From 2011 to 2017, the two of them claimed every AL batting title, four of them for Cabrera, three for Altuve.
Whenever the Astros came to Comerica Park early in his career, Altuve made a point to go out to the field early to watch Cabrera take batting practice. When Altuve was getting in some early BP at Comerica on Thursday ahead of a four-game series in Detroit, guess who was posted up in front of the Tigers' dugout taking it all in?
“I wanted to watch him hit," Lee told The News.
Altuve smiled again: "You can learn from everyone, by watching, by talking to players. That’s good that he really wants to put the work in and get better. Right after I was done he left, but it was cool to see him there. And I like what I see in him. I think he has a lot of talent."
That night, Lee stayed hot with a hit in his fifth straight game. He struggled badly in his first stint in the majors this season and was ultimately sent down, but has been much better since returning after another injury to Gleyber Torres. He's batting .378 with a .908 OPS in June. In the little he's seen of Lee, Altuve said he sees some of himself.
"I really like the way he swings the bat. He’s always on time and he tries to put the ball in the air, he’s not just trying to make weak contact. Hopefully he gets better and better and he has lots of success in the league."
A.J. Hinch, who managed Altuve for five years in Houston, was pleased to hear Thursday that Lee made time to observe an artist at work.
"This league is full of guys to follow, and I ask all of our young guys to just pay attention to how great players go about their business. And Hao-Yu’s right: he should go follow Jose Altuve. Jose is a terrific example of work, of mindset, of competitiveness, of being able to handle adversity. Nothing has ever been given to this guy and he continues to try to improve into his 30s when he’s got so much success under his belt."
A.J. Hinch on Hao-Yu Lee watching Jose Altuve take BP:
"I ask all our young guys to pay attention to how great players go about their business. And Hao-Yu’s right. He should go follow Jose Altuve. Jose is a terrific example of work, mindset, competitiveness, handling adversity" pic.twitter.com/WD0GPBlQmv
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) June 25, 2026
To Hinch, Lee has looked like a more comfortable hitter since getting called back up, "more comfortable in the box, more comfortable with his zone control, more comfortable executing his game plan. I think that’s the been the No. 1 thing," he said. The result is that "he's hitting the ball harder."
Lee has also just looked like a more comfortable person.
"Everybody needs a little bit of success to build off of," said Hinch. "I just think his belief in himself, I see him interacting more in our hitters meetings and now he’ll poke fun back at these guys after they give him a little bit of a hard time. Just overall as a teammate, he’s doing what young guys should do, which is be pretty quiet on the front end of your career and learn and grow and open up and digest all of this along the way."
It also helps, Hinch pointed out, that Lee is getting to play a lot as he fills in for Torres at second base. And that he's been able to settle into one position in the field.
"I actually think he’s a really good third baseman as well," said Hinch. "But maybe the one position for him breaking in this second time has helped him get a little bit more stable, even though we’re going to continue to move him back and forth, especially when Gleyber comes back."
But that won't be for a while. Torres is sidelined with an oblique injury for the second time this season and isn't close to a return. In the meantime, Lee will keep getting the at-bats that he earns.
"In this case," said Hinch, "I think he’s taken advantage of his time.
