Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros is the shortest everyday player in Major League Baseball, at 5-foot-6, his “official” height. (Some think he is closer to 5-5.)

But one of the great things about baseball is that you don’t have to be unusually tall or wide to succeed, which Altuve has been demonstrating throughout his career, and especially this season.

The second baseman already was an all-star-caliber player … and then he upped his game almost across the board.

Boxing has an unofficial designation for “best pound for pound” fighter, and if baseball had a similar designation, Altuve might win. He weighs 165. Allegedly.

So, his 2016 season …

At this writing, he has established career bests in runs (99), home runs (24), RBI (94), triples (five), on-base percentage (.401) and OPS (.952).

He has become such a productive hitter that he was moved from the leadoff spot to the No. 3 slot in the lineup. Making it more likely someone will be on base when he launches a home run — and a bit less likely he will steal a base.

His production slowed a bit in the past month or so, but we could reasonably expect him to get into triple digits in both runs and RBI, and also win his second batting crown if he kept up his .341 batting average — which is what he hit to lead the American League in 2014.

All of that is up in the air, as of tonight, when something went badly wrong as he was trying to steal third base.

He was barely jogging by the time he reached the bag, and limping, and an observer’s first thought would be “leg injury”.

But, no. Altuve was diagnosed with “right oblique discomfort”, and anyone who has paid attention to baseball over the past decade knows that oblique injuries (apparently, ballplayers didn’t have oblique muscles, back in the day) knows it takes weeks, maybe even months, to come back from them.

And the regular season will be over in 2.5 weeks.

Thus, we may have seen the last, this season, of the greatest little ballplayer on Earth.

I am writing about him because, yes, he is on my fantasy-ball team. I spent the 13th pick on him, and I have never regretted it. Watching him put up numbers day after day … well, you can’t beat that.

Asked how he was having a career year at the plate, the 26-year-old Venezuelan said it was because he was being more selective with pitches — trying to make sure he swung at strikes only. That has led to a career-beat 55 walks, too.

Have a look at this MLB video. About a third of the way in it shows 1) Altuve swinging at a pitch up around his eyes, the sort of thing he often did, and 2) him standing next to Nate Freiman of the Oakland Athletics, who is 6-foot-8.

Altuve is hard not to root for — even if you are a fan of another team.

Brodcasters in Houston have come up with a unit of measure they call “the Altuve”. For example, you can measure how long a home run was in feet or in Altuves. Check the calculator; it’s fun.

Altuve (pronounced al-TOO-vay) shows that talent and gumption and persistence can lead to great things — even in professional sports.

Little Jose, the MLB long shot who is making $3.5 million this season and will make $4.5 million next.