Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Yordan Alvarez was born June 27, 1997, in Las Tunas, Cuba. He is an outfielder in the MLB.

Álvarez played two seasons in the Cuban National Series for Las Tunas. He defected from Cuba, then established residence in Haiti in 2016. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent in June 2016.

On June 9, 2019, the Astros selected Álvarez' contract and promoted him to make his major league debut that afternoon versus the Baltimore Orioles. He went 1-3 with a two-run home run in his debut. The following game, Álvarez again homered, this time versus Matt Albers of the Milwaukee Brewers. He became the first Astro to homer in both of his first two games. Álvarez became the fourth player in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to hit four home runs in his first five career games when he homered off of Clayton Richard of the Toronto Blue Jays, joining Trevor Story, Yasiel Puig and Mike Jacobs. On June 23, Álvarez hit a 2-run home run for his 7th home run of the season in only 12 games, establishing an Astros franchise record. He also became the first player in MLB history to drive in 16 runs in his first 12 games. He won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Month Award for both June and July – the first Astro to do so – after garnering 48 hits, batting .336, 13 doubles, 13 homers and 39 RBI, .699 slugging, and 1.120 OPS. He also led MLB with a 1.120 OPS since his debut, and was second in the AL with a .421 OBP, fourth in SLG, sixth in RBI, and seventh in average. Thus, he emerged as a leading contender for AL Rookie of the Year honors despite his late start to the season.

On the 2021 season, he batted .277/.346/.531 and led the Astros in home runs (33), RBIs (104), and strikeouts (145) and tied for the team lead in double plays grounded into (GIDP, 16) in 537 at bats.

In Game 5 of the ALCS, the Astros faced Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale at Fenway Park in a 9–1 win. Álvarez logged three hits and three RBIs versus the left-handed ace, all to the opposite field, including one home run that cleared the Green Monster. This marked the first occasion in Álvarez' career in which he had collected that many opposite-field hits; meanwhile Sale had allowed four total hits in 2021 to left-handed batters in his 42+2⁄3 innings. The last left-handed batter to realize three hits in one game versus Sale was the Red Sox' David Ortiz on July 30, 2015. The ALCS was also the first time Álvarez had faced Sale. In Game 6, Álvarez collected four hits–including two doubles and one triple–as Houston won the game, 5–0, the decisive game of the ALCS. He hit .522, with a 1.408 OPS, three doubles, one triple, one home run, six RBIs, and seven runs scored. His .522 average set a record for ALCS play, eclipsing Kevin Youkilis' .500 average hit in the 2007 ALCS. Álvarez was named ALCS Most Valuable Player (MVP), becoming the fourth Cuban-born player and the first designated hitter to win the award since David Ortiz.

MLB announced Álvarez' selection on July 10, 2022, to the MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium as a reserve DH, his first career selection. He was leading the major leagues in OPS (1.058) and third in home runs (26) at the time. The same day, however, the Astros placed him on the 10-day injured list due to right-hand inflammation, causing him to miss the All-Star Game. On July 21, the Astros activated Álvarez.

Álvarez hit his 30th home run on July 29 versus the Seattle Mariners to establish a team record for reaching the mark in the fewest appearances, doing so in his 84th game of the season. On July 31, he delivered a walk-off RBI single in the tenth inning versus the Mariners to score José Altuve (3−2).

On three occasions during the Astros' 2022 postseason run, Álvarez hit a home run in the sixth inning or later while his team was trailing that gave them the lead. No other player had previously hit such a home run during postseason play more than once. In Game 1 of the Division Series, Álvarez hit a three-run walk-off home run for an 8–7 triumph over the Mariners, the final of his three hits and five RBIs that day. It was the first walk-off home run in an MLB postseason contest with the home team down to their final out in the ninth inning and trailing by more than one run, With the Astros trailing 4–0 in the third inning, Álvarez doubled home two runs, and, in the fourth inning, rifled a throw home to home plate that put out Ty France and prevented a run from scoring. Offensively, Álvarez' 1.054 win probability added (WPA, 105.4f%) surpassed David Freese's 2011 World Series walk-off home run game for highest ever in an MLB postseason contest. Two days later, he hit a home run in the sixth inning to turn a 2–1 deficit into a 3–2 lead, which helped the Astros in a 4–2 victory as Alvarez became the second player with go-ahead home runs in the 6th inning or later of consecutive postseason games. Alvarez did not hit another home run for the rest of the series or the ALCS. In the ALCS, the Astros won in four games, with Alvarez batting .214 with one RBI. In the World Series, he was kept off the basepaths for the most part, batting .130. However, he had an RBI in each of the four Astro victories. He had an RBI double to make it 2-0 in Game 2, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in Game 4, and hit a groundball to first to drive a runner home from third in Game 5. In the sixth inning of Game 6, with two runners on, he hit a 450-foot home run (his first in 23 days) to center field to make it a 3-1 game. The Astros won the game 4-1 to win their second World Series title in franchise history.