When we last checked in on the Houston Astros about a month ago, things were not looking good. Unfortunately, they haven’t gotten better since then, as they currently sit at 17-28, good for 9.5 games back in the division and 8 games back in the Wild Card race. While they’re still not past the point of no return in regards to another postseason appearance, it’s getting harder and harder with each loss. If there’s one silver lining for the Astros, at least they have been enjoying an MVP-caliber performance from one of their players, even if it’s not the player we were expecting.

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook a player who is consistently solid because they play for a team that is not. Jose Altuve made his debut in 2011, the first of three seasons where the Astros lost over 100 games and the same year when the Astros hired GM Jeff Luhnow and fully committed to the tanking rebuilding process. When you look at the 2011 Astros’ roster, you may see a lot of familiar names there, but Altuve is the only player from the that 2011 roster still on Houston’s 40-man in 2016.

In Altuve’s first full season in 2012, the 22-year old hit .303/.344/.438 in the first half, earning his first All-Star nod and prompting some pretty high profile folks to wonder whether or not Houston should trade him. Well, it turns out he was Houston’s one untouchable player and, in 2013, they signed him to an extension which bought out his remaining service time and gave the Astros team options for his two free agency years. In retrospect, it looks like a pretty smart move on the Astros part to extend Altuve while he was having his last below average season to date.

Since then, Altuve has absolutely torn it up, making back-to-back All Star teams, earning back-to-back Silver Slugger awards and getting MVP votes. In 2014, Altuve led MLB in hits (225) and batting average (.341) and led the AL in steals with 56 (good for 10th in MLB in SB% at 86.15%). In 2015, he again broke the 200 hit mark and led the AL only missing Dee Gordon’s MLB-leading record by five hits. By OPS+ (135 in 2014 and 123 in 2015) and bWAR (6.1 in 2014 and 4.5 in 2015), he was unquestionably a great player, but not quite in the echelons of baseball’s current greatest players. That’s changed this season, though.

Altuve’s OPS+ currently sits at 175 (!!!) and he’s already at 2.9 bWAR. He’s leading MLB or in the top ten in so many categories, it’s pointless to even start listing them. Basically, he’s turned from one of the better players in the game to one of the best players in the game. What did he do? He figured out how to hit for more power, effectively destroying the one part of his game that kept him from reaching the heights of the best players.

Ken Rosenthal reported that Houston’s hitting coach talked with Altuve at the end of last season and “showed Altuve that he was chasing 37.7 percent of pitches outside the strike zone, explained that he would get better pitches to hit if he cut that down to the league average.” Well, it looks like Altuve has taken that to heart, as he’s only swinging at 24.6% of pitches out of the zone this season. Whether the change was really that easy or not, Altuve’s adjustments are certainly paying their dividends, as he’s more than doubled his walk rate and, even though he’s making less contact overall, he’s seeing better pitches and his isolated power currently sits at .254. His career ISO going into this year? .110. He’s hitting way more line drives and grounding the ball way less. While ISO takes a long time to stabilize (most of a season’s worth of PAs), the other statistics that have changed for Altuve we are talking about all stabilize at 200 and Altuve is at 206.

How many Altuves? There’s just one, and you can bet that the Astros are glad they held on to him and have him under team control through 2019. At $6.5 million a pop for 2018 and 2019, if the new Altuve turns out to be for real, he’ll not only be one of the most valuable players in baseball, but also one of the best values.