With Yordan Álvarez around, we’re witnessing a unique hitter

The Astros have given us plenty of reasons to be happy, and one of them is the presence of Yordan Álvarez. With every at-bat, we’re witnessing a special hitter, a kind of player the Astros have never had before. Not only is Álvarez one of the best offensive guys on the roster, but he’s also part of the brilliant era of youngsters we live in.

Just for you to have an idea of what I’m talking about, I’ll give you a stunning stat. Currently, Yordan registers 28 home runs and 89 runs batted in throughout 2021. If he gets to 30 and 100, respectively, he’ll become the first pure left-handed hitter to record those numbers in franchise history.

But besides that, the Astros have nothing to envy other clubs for having, for example, Juan Soto (Nationals), Vlad Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), or Fernando Tatís Jr. (Padres). They have Yordan Álvarez, a massive hitter that could easily become the David Ortiz of this generation if he stays consistent and healthy.

Despite Yordan has struck out 120 times in 116 games this season, he seems to be flawless. The Cuban star is slashing .280/.344/.533 in his first full season in the Major Leagues —he had a late debut in 2019 and miss almost the entire season in 2020— and owns 25 doubles, 77 scored runs, and 123 total hits.

Álvarez’s strength at the plate is also a must-watch. The lefty slugger owns the sixth-highest average exit velocity among all the qualified hitters in the American League (93 MPH), behind only Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Guerrero, Josh Donaldson, and Shohei Ohtani.

Wanna a deeper look at Álvarez’s power? Take a glimpse at every square of the strike zone and its average exit velocity (from the catcher’s perspective)...

Baseball Savant

Álvarez combines his massive power with a good contact rate (77.0 contact percentage), which is something elite. Despite being a giant with a powerful swing, his strikeout percentage (24.7) is barely above MLB average (23.2), as well as his whiff percentage (23, just above the 24.5 of the league).

What speaks very well of Álvarez’s young career in the MLB is that he’s the youngest star in the Astros’ lineup. He shines among veterans such as countryman Yuli Gurriel, Michael Brantley, José Altuve, and Alex Bregman. At 24 years and 69 days old, he’s even younger than Kyle Tucker (24 yrs, 230 days).

And the funniest thing is Yordan is underrated as heck. He doesn’t get the kind of attention he deserves, but he is making enough noise with his bat, especially in recent days — Álvarez has six home runs and 12 driven in through his last 12 games.

The best part of everything is that Álvarez is under team control until the 2025 season. So he’s on pace to build a pretty impressive career with the Astros. We still have time to enjoy everything this guy can do at the batter’s box. Our pleasure.