Houston Astros manager Joe Espada said that second baseman Jose Altuve has been working in left field for the last couple of weeks and is also still taking ground balls at second base. "I'm not going to commit to a number of games,

Astros general manager Dana Brown said he expects Altuve to take reps practicing as a left fielder next month during the team's Spring Training in West Palm Beach, Florida. Altuve has never logged a game in the outfield across his 14 MLB seasons, and he's logged just two starts at shortstop, his only non-second-base position to date.

Moving a star second baseman to the outfield in the later stage of his career is unusual. For the Houston Astros, it is not unprecedented. It was 22 years ago that Craig Biggio made the move at age 37,

Altuve, who stands 5-foot-6, has never played the outfield at any point over his more than 15,000 defensive innings.

Jose Altuve seeing time in left field next season? It might not be contingent on Alex Bregman returning, Houston Astros GM Dana Brown said Tuesday.