For those want the t-shirt to commemorate this weekend's BP display by Alvarez.... https://breakingt.com/products/nice-shot-yordan
Yordan Alvarez always knows the EXACT location of Carmen SanDiego. Yordan Alvarez once challenged Lance Armstrong in a "Who has more testicles?" contest. Yordan Alvarez won by 5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on a true story: Yordan Alvarez once swallowed a turtle whole, and when he crapped it out, the turtle was six feet tall and had learned karate.
Alvarez is 21 years old. And he has given the opposing teams plenty of info, but so far he has still managed to pounce on the ball... This defies the logical course most young hitters embark into MLB, where there is a constant period of adjustments back and forth, till one day the offensive display far exceeds the period of adjustments by the pitchers. I think his potential is to hit for average and power... He’s already moved up in the batting order to the meat of the lineup, as a rookie on one of the best offensive clubs in the whole league. But in a 10-15 year career, he will be at 500+ home runs. To me he has a feel of how Barry Bonds intimidated pitchers. Make a mistake and pay! Alvarez isn’t giving out any cheap swings, so you either walk him or you pitch mistake free, and well that isn’t too probable. The awesome thing is he isn’t a Chris Carter type, Alvarez isn’t about all or nothing, he has a total arsenal on the offensive front.
The big key is his plate discipline, rarely you see him chase. So pitchers can't throw the sweeping breaking ball and "hope" he chases. Just like teams have info on him, I think he getting info on the pitcher's so as he see's them more he will be better (kinda scary).
Yordan's got a nice lock on the ROY in the AL now. He's tied for 1st in WAR with Brandon Lowe (who is shut down for the season), despite 50 fewer plate appearances (and not playing a defensive position). Among AL rookies with 100 plate appearances, he is: 1st in OPS 1st in OBP 1st in SLG 1st in RBI 2nd in HR (1 behind Eloy Jimenez now... in ~130 fewer ABs) 2nd in BA (.006 behind Luis Arraez) 3rd in 2B 4th in BB (good shot at ending in 3rd, outside shot at 2nd) 8th in runs (7 back of 2nd) 11th in hits (5 back of fifth) Across the majors (min 150 PA), he's in a heat with Mike Trout for fewest AB/HR, and leads everyone in ISO. His RC/27 (Runs Created per 27 outs) is 3rd behind the 2 likely MVPs -- Trout and Yelich.
Dude is just amazing! We were are lamenting the fact we didn't get a big bat this off season, but our GM knew we had a big bat ready to go. I wonder if he had any idea Yordan would be this good?
I'm pretty sure that they knew he was going to be good. I don't think anyone knew he was transition seamlessly to major league pitching. I think he just has the personality to embrace the big stage. He really gets pissed when he doesn't drive home a run like he expects to do it at every opportunity.
Then you will be severely disappointed. There have only been 12 in the entirety of baseball and only 1 in the last 50 years.
Yet he is putting up first year numbers comparable to Ted Williams. (Baseball Almanac tells me there have been 15 individuals who hit for the Triple Crown with Williams and Rogers Hornsby doing it twice to make it 17 times.)
I'm bad at counting, but that doesn't change my opinion. Yordan will not win multiple triple crowns and it's doubtful he will win even one. I'd love to be wrong.
You're not bad at counting, you are just a stickler for official stats. RBIs was not always kept as a stat. There have been 12 Triple Crowns using official stats. There were 5 Triple Crowns retroactively discovered based on historians digging through box scores and news clippings. One of those 5 wasn't even in the NL or AL.
Let him win the rookie triple crown first... then he can move on to amongst all players. Gotta start somewhere.
"He's ok", said the man with no clue he would become the best hitter to ever wear an Astros jersey. "He's pretty good for a rookie", said the sportscaster who had no idea he was witnessing a young man who would one day shatter the record books.
If we're gonna aim high, I say we aim high: Yaz in '67 is the only player to win the Quadruple Crown (hits also). He actually won the Quintuple Crown that year: led the AL in BA, H, HR, R, RBI. He also led in OBP, SLG, OPS+, TB and won a GG. Only finished 3rd in 2B and 4th in BB though.
