Yordan

Alvarez

The homer was hit 109.2 mph off Pallante, but that wasn’t his hardest hit ball of the night. The line-drive double left his bat at 117.8 mph, his hardest-hit ball since a 117.9-mph groundout in his rookie year in 2019. He went on to reach 117 mph at least once each year from 2022-24, but he topped out at 115.4 mph last year and his high this season was 114.2 mph. It’s just another good sign from one of the year’s MVPs to date.

Loperfido will get some additional time off to rest and recover after leaving Friday’s game with right quad tightness. Yordan Alvarez heads out to patrol left field in his absence.

Alvarez smacked a 378-foot homer into deep right-center in the third inning off Kyle Leahy for his eighth homer of the season and his second in three games. The left-handed slugger is now slashing .333/.479/.750 on the season and is tied with Aaron Judge for the league leader in home runs.

Alvarez might well be the game’s best hitter right now, if only he can stay healthy. He’s hitting .333/.488/.762 with seven homers and 17 RBI through 84 plate appearances. His .488 OBP and .762 slugging both lead the majors.

This will now be Alvarez’s fifth start in the outfield this season, which means he will have outfield eligibility in certain fantasy formats. That’s not only great for his fantasy managers, but this has continued to allow Isaac Paredes to get in the lineup at designated hitter. The question will be how long this experiment lasts, given Alvarez’s injury history.

Alvarez is just scorching hot over the first two-plus weeks of the year, and he shellacked a Luis Castillo offering for his sixth homer of the season. He’s hitting .316 with an .800 slugging percentage, but it is worth noting he popped out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning in a time game. Still, fantasy managers have to be thrilled with the early production from Alvarez, who remains as good of hitter as there is in baseball when he’s healthy enough to show off those skills.

The homer turned the Astros’ deficit from six runs to three in the eighth and caused the Mariners to use Andrés Muñoz, so perhaps that might pay off Saturday? Alvarez is batting .341/.516/.750 with five homers and 13 RBI in 14 games, and it’s going to be so fun to see what he can do if he can stay completely healthy this year.

Alvarez kept on keeping on with a two-run blast off Jacob Lopez in the first inning. It’s already the fourth homer of the campaign, and that homer along with a pair of walks has him slashing .400/.578/.900. Obviously some regression is coming because this is not the Cal League, but this is a wonderful reminder that very few hitters have more offensive upside than Alvarez.

The double was a 418-foot blast to center off Brayan Bello in the first. It would have been gone in 26 ballparks, according to Statcast, but Ceddanne Rafaela nearly turned it into an out before coming up just short at the wall. Alvarez didn’t leave it to chance in the fifth, delivering a 399-foot blast far over the wall in right. He’s looked fantastic so far, and he could easily have five homers, rather than three, through his first six games. It’s understandable to worry about durability, especially since he’s going to be asked to play a fair amount of left field, but he’s one of the handful of players with a real shot at winning AL MVP honors.

Alvarez lost one homer to the roof at Daikin Park on Opening Day, but he’s up to two in five games anyway. One worries some about health, especially since the Astros seem poised to give him significant playing time in left field, but if he can start 150 games, he might make a run at AL MVP honors.