"I don't know how it's going to be," Altuve said leading up to the tournament. "But I'm really happy and looking forward to going, and I'm looking forward to playing hard with my Venezuela team."
Altuve is coming off a season in which he won his second AL batting title in three years and set career highs in homers (24), RBIs (96), total bases (340) and OPS (.928). He finished third in AL MVP Award voting and was voted by his peers as the 2016 Player of the Year Award winner at the 25th Annual Players Choice Awards.