Jose Altuve stated his openness to a position change in the context of a specific pursuit, saying he would “do whatever,” including move from second base, if it helped the Houston Astros re-sign Alex Bregman.

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

HOUSTON — The idea of Jose Altuve playing left field for the Astros first surfaced last week. It was reportedly Altuve's idea as a way to shift things around to make room for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman to return.

Alex Bregman's exit from free agency has taken longer than planned, after being ranked among the top 10 players in the offseason, but a miscalculation and strategy in negotiations

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,