We are a little over a quarter of the way into the 2016 baseball season and the Houston Astros have not quite lived up to expectations. They are currently looking at a 18-28 record and are fresh off getting swept by the Texas Rangers… again. It is hard to give out awards to a team that has struggled as much as they have, but someone has to try.

MVP

Well this one may come to a surprise to a lot of people, but the man that has done all he can to make this team successful is Jose Altuve. Altuve is currently batting .319/.406/.566 165 wRC+, with 27 extra base hits and 27 RBI. He has swiped 15 bags and has only been caught once. If it were not for Altuve, the Astros may be deeper in the whole than they already are.

Best Starter

The Astros picked up veteran Doug Fister over the winter and stuck him in the fifth spot of the rotation. So far this year the starting rotation has been as soft as a pillow. Fister has been the one bright spot. The Astros have won Fister’s last five starts and he had a stretch of six straight starts of going at least six innings before the win against Baltimore on Tuesday. Fister is only sporting a 4.12 ERA, but has been constantly lowering it with each outing.

Best Reliever

Will Harris was very good for the Astros last year. He may be even better this year. Harris has given up only one earned run this season and has a 0.44 ERA. He has not given up a run since his first appearance of the year on April 7th against the Yankees.

Biggest Disappointment

I was positive that I was going to be writing about Carlos Gomez for this part of the article, but then Dallas Keuchel pitched against the Rangers. This years greatest disappointment is last year’s CY Young award winner. Keuchel has a 5.92 ERA and has a 2-6 record so far this year. I do not believe anyone expected this after how well he pitched last year. In 2015, it was all but guaranteed that the Astros would get a win whenever Keuchel was up on the mound. In 2016, it seems to be the exact opposite.

Golden Glove

This was a tough one decision. It was either between Carlos Correa or George Springer. With what Springer has done in right field so far this year, look back at the homerun robbery against the White Sox, I give him the edge. Springer has been able to make some great catches in the outfield this season. It is kind of unfair though since he is a center fielder playing right field. Springer has 94 put outs in 99 chances and is sporting a 1.000 fielding percentage. He also has five assists with one double play.

Best Attitude

This has been a pretty bad start for the Astros, but George Springer always seems to be smiling in the dugout. Springer may be the funniest guy on the team and one can really tell that he loves the game in which he plays. Just the other day he was playing catch with Jake Marisnick while wearing a dinosaur costume. Lets not forget about how he loves to dance.

Best Dancer

I know many probably believe Springer deserves this one, but I am going with Gary “Windmill” Pettis. No body can ever have a dance move compared to Pettis’ windmill at third base. Pettis has a history of being a very aggressive third base coach, and that has shown a lot this year. He just loves to send people home with his windmill, even if there is only a slight chance of them being safe.

Hopefully there is light ahead for this young baseball team. This team certainly has more talent than the 2005 Astros club that came back from a 15-30 start to take the wild card and make it to the World Series. If they can get the pitching solved soon and start getting hits with RISP then they may be able to make some noise in this relatively weak AL West.

Follow @ACAllAmericans for quality, up-to-date sports reporting.