Yordan Alvarez Is the Gift That Keeps Giving

With the ongoing investigation into the Astros for stealing signs via the use of technology, it’s nice to be able to talk about something else. Before all of these allegations came to light, Yordan Alvarez was unanimously named the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year. Jeff Bagwell (1991) and Carlos Correa (2015) were the other two players. Alvarez was the first to be named unanimously.

I once asked Jeremy Booth if he has seen a player get off to such a hot start as Alvarez did from Game 1. He said yes, they are all Hall of Famers. Alvarez batted .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBI. At one point, he had an RBI for every game he played. But Alvarez hit a mini wall in September, only batting .296 with six homers and 16 RBI.

Should Alvarez had played more games at the big league level? You may have heard his name with some of the top rookie seasons in baseball history. It appeared the Astros knew what they were doing with him not making his debut until June 9th. When he came up, he was ready to go, homering in his first game.

A Natural!

Other than Lance McCullers Jr, the Astros have struggled with developing top pitching prospects. Or, they traded them away to improve the parent club. However, they have done well with homegrown hitters. The Astros could not sign Alvarez in the International Draft. That didn’t stop Jeff Luhnow for working out a trade with the Dodgers in exchange for reliever Josh Fields.

Because Alvarez never played a minor league game with the Dodgers, the Astros got the upper hand of that trade. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. It will be interesting to see how he does in 2020 with a full season. The Astros needed a pure power bat like Alvarez in the lineup, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s left-handed either.

Speaking of gifts, if you have an Astros fan who is a bobblehead collector, I got the perfect gift idea.

What about a bobblehead of your favorite DH?

This is the first bobblehead ever produced of Alvarez and commemorates his first MLB hit, which was a home run. The bobbleheads are only available at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame website. The first batch was already sold out, but if you act now, you can get a hold of the second batch in April. This bobblehead should appreciate in value as we follow the career of this great young hitter.

The bobbleheads were produced/licensed exclusively for the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum by FOCO. Gift yourself or someone else one of these great bobbleheads.