May 20, 2025:  Yordan Alvarez is frustrated with his current predicament.

When he was scratched from the Astros’ lineup on May 3 with right hand soreness, the thought then was that he would be out of action for a minimal amount of time.Alvarez was placed on the injured list two days later, but that was followed by the relatively good news that he just needed to rest the strained muscle in that hand that had been affecting him for a large chunk of the season.

He was first eligible to come off the IL on May 13. Nearly one week later, he remains sidelined, and the pain in his hand has yet to fully subside.

“It’s been very frustrating,” Alvarez said before the 4-3 win over the Rays, via team interpreter Otto Loor. “I didn’t think it was going to take this long. But obviously, it’s been longer than what I had anticipated.”

Alvarez admitted that his hand has gotten “a lot better,” but he has yet to advance past hitting off a tee and doing soft toss in the batting cages, and he still isn’t swinging at 100%. The injury played a role in the formidable slugger’s .210/.306/.340 slash line with only three homers and 18 RBIs in 121 plate appearances. Alvarez also said the physical pain began to affect him mentally, though he doesn’t want to use it as an excuse for his subpar statistics.“There's no justification for the results that I've been having,” he said. (B Murphy - MLB.com - May 20, 2025)

May 3. 2025: Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, who has gotten off to a slow start this season, was scratched from the lineup prior to the game against the White Sox at Rate Field with inflammation in his right hand.

Astros manager Joe Espada said Alvarez had been dealing with the issue “for a few days,” and he took some swings in the batting cage prior to the game and didn’t feel right. Victor Caratini started at DH in Alvarez’s place.

“I”m going to give him a day just to see if he feels better to be able to play tomorrow,” Espada said. “It’s just been sore for a couple of days and created some inflammation, kind of on the side of his right hand. We’re going to give him a day.”

Alvarez is slashing .210/.306/.340 in 100 at-bats this season with three homers and 18 RBIs. He was 0-for-4 in Friday’s series opener in Chicago. (B McTaggart - MLB.com - May 3, 2025) 

Yordan grew up in Cuba. "I grew up playing baseball," Alvarez said. "When I was 15 years old, I was already on the national team. And at 16, I was already participating in the National Series with Las Tunas team."

Alvarez defected from Cuba, then established residence in Haiti in 2016, and then signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent in 2016.

In 2016, the Dodgers signed free agent Alvarez (see Transactions below). 

In 2017, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Alvarez the 28th-best prospect in the Astros organization. But they moved Yordan up to 3rd-best Astros prospect in the winter before 2018 spring training, and he stayed at #3 a year later, early in 2019.

In 2017, Alvarez represented the Astros in the All-Star Futures game.

2017-2018: Alvarez was invited to play in the AFL Fall Stars Game.

MLB debut (June 9, 2019): It didn’t take long for Yordan Alvarez to make his mark in the big leagues.

Alvarez, who was called up prior to the June 9, 2019 game, hit an impressive two-run homer in his second Major League at-bat in the fourth inning for the Astros, who beat the Orioles, 4-0, in the series finale at Minute Maid Park.

Alvarez, 21, was the seventh Astros player to homer in his Major League debut and first since Derek Fisher two years ago. He went 1-for-3 and drew a walk in four plate appearances.

Yordan is a very quiet person.

Alvarez brings advice from his dad to the park every day. "Every day my dad gives me advice and every day I talk to him to describe my performance during the game. If I don't talk to m father, he tells me he can't sleep peacefully."

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

2019 season: Alvarez, acquired from the Dodgers in 2016 for relief pitcher Josh Fields, has been a force since the Astros called him up in June. He set a franchise single-season record for most homers by a rookie and was named AL Rookie of the Month in June, July and August.

|He set a Major League record for most RBIs in a player’s first 45 games (51), leads the AL in RBIs and OPS since being called up, and has the highest OPS by a rookie in MLB’s modern era (since 1900). He leads all rookies in RBIs, extra-base hits, OPS, on-base percentage and slugging percentage (min. 300 plate appearances).

2019 Season: Perhaps the only question when it comes to Alvarez and the Rookie of the Year Award is whether it will be unanimous. After hitting 23 home runs in 56 games in Triple-A, Alvarez made his long-awaited debut on June 9 and quickly became a force in the middle of the Astros’ stacked lineup.

He was named the AL Rookie of the Month in each of his first three months in the big leagues (June, July and August) and set a Major League record by posting 51 RBIs in his first 45 games. He hit seven homers in his first 12 games, which was a club record. In 87 games with the Astros, Alvarez hit .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs, setting a Major League record for OPS by a rookie in a single season (1.067, minimum 350 plate appearances). He surpassed Shoeless Joe Jackson’s record of 1.058 in 1911.

Alvarez led AL rookies in extra-base hits (53) and led all MLB rookies in OPS (1.067), on-base percentage (.412) and slugging percentage (.655). After making his debut on June 9, he ranked in the top 10 among all AL hitters in RBIs (second), OBP (third), slugging (third), OPS (fourth), extra-base hits (fifth), homers (tied, sixth), doubles (tied, seventh) and batting average (ninth). His 1.067 OPS was the sixth highest by a player 22 years old or younger in the MLB modern era (since 1900).  (Brian McTaggart - MLB.com - Nov. 10, 2019)

In 2019, Baseball Digest and eBay selected Alvarez as their AL Rookie of the Year.

In 2019, Alvarez won the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

2021 Season: After making his MLB debut in 2019, Alvarez missed all but two games of the '20 regular season due to a right knee injury. He more than delivered after returning from his injury, posting a slash line of .277/.346/.531 with 33 home runs over 144 games. His 3.7 fWAR ranked only behind Ohtani among designated hitters. 

Alvarez thrived in the postseason too, even though voters are asked to consider only regular-season performance when making their choices. He posted a 1.023 OPS over 16 games as the Astros made it to the World Series where they fell to the Braves in six games. He was also named the ALCS MVP, when he slugged .870 with a 1.408 OPS in Houston’s six-game series win over the Red Sox.  (Kennedi Landry - Nov. 23, 2021)

July 2022: Alvarez was selected to the MLB All-Star Game.

Aug 23, 2022: Yordan nervously looked up into the stands at Minute Maid Park just prior to the game against the Twins in search of a familiar face in an unfamiliar spot. This was a big day for the family, considering it was the first time his parents and his 14-year-old brother were going to see him play professional baseball.

“So the whole [top half of the first] inning, I was looking to the stands to see when I could see them,” he said. “That first at-bat, I was super nervous and super anxious knowing they hadn’t seen me play in a while.”

Alvarez grounded out in his first at-bat of the 4-2 win over the Twins and finished 1-for-4 at the plate. But the smiling face of his father, Agustin Eduardo Alvarez, the tears in the eyes of his mother, Marilyn Cadogan Reyes Salazar, and the sight of his brother, Yonder Alvarez Cadogan, made it a day to never forget. 

“It means everything,” Alvarez said. “Obviously, coming to the United States is not easy. When I arrived here, I arrived by myself. I knew I had their support, but they weren’t here and just the process of them getting here just took so long. So I think for them to be here, I think they needed some time to take it in and say ‘We’re actually here.’”

According to the Astros, Alvarez originally defected from Cuba in 2016 and established residence in Haiti with his family. While there, he signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent on June 15, 2016, and he was traded to the Astros six weeks later before even playing a game in the Dodgers’ organization. The rest is history. Alvarez, 25, was the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year in 2019, the MVP of the 2021 AL Championship Series and has blossomed into one of the game’s top sluggers.

He said he hasn’t spent more than a couple of days with his family since he left the Dominican Republic back in 2016, though he briefly visited the D.R. earlier this year and saw them. 

“I was able to speak with them almost every day,” Alvarez said. “We talk about how the game the night before went and how things are. I don’t think I have specific advice they give me, but I was always talking to them.”

Alvarez credited Astros owner Jim Crane with being among a “lot of people” that helped his parents come to the U.S. The Astros said his family arrived in Houston on Friday, by way of stops in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

“Some people gave me their word: They were going to help me bring them here and thankfully, they did,” Alvarez said. 

The 25-year-old wasn’t sure how long his family will be able to stay in Houston. He wants to see their faces in the stands every night.

“Hopefully, they can stay here forever,” he said. (B McTaggart - MLB.com - Aug 24, 2022)

Oct 8, 2022: Alvarez was named Astros MVP by Houston BBWAA.

2022 Season: (.306/.406/.613, 6.6 fWAR).  Alvarez has exploded onto the scene over the past few seasons. This year, he proved yet again why he is one of the best young players in the game. He ranked second in the AL in homers (37), fourth in runs (95), and fifth in RBI (97). His oWAR of 52.8 was second best and his wRC+ of a staggering 185 ranked the same.

His only struggle came with the glove, as he had an OAA in the negative and a dWAR of 0.8. That said, he did tie for the fifth highest DRS among AL left fielders with 100 innings or more.  (Caleb Begley - Nov 5, 2022)

July 2023: Alvarez represented the Astros at the All-Star Game. But he was not able to play due to an injury.

2023 Season: Stats: .293/.407/.583, 56 XBH, 97 RBI in 114 games played

One of the best hitters in all of baseball since 2019, Alvarez continued to torment opposing pitchers in 2023. 

Despite missing over 40 games, the 26-year-old led the team in home runs with 31 and wasn't far off of the team lead for RBI with 97. Not only did he do damage with the bat, but he was also able to get on base at a higher clip with 69 walks and a career-high 13 HBP. (Michael Carpenter | 11/6/23)

In 95 of 125 games last season (76.0%) Alvarez recorded a hit, and in 35 of those contests (28.0%) he posted more than one hit.In 33 of 125 games last season, he went yard (26.4%). That’s a long ball in 6.3% of his trips to the plate in 2023.Alvarez crossed the plate in 68 games last season in 125 tries (54.4%), including scoring multiple runs in 13.6% of his games (17 times).

He plated a run in 61 of 125 games last year, with multiple RBI in 34 of them. He also notched three or more of his team’s runs in 12 contests. Alvarez whiffed at least once 75 times last year in 125 games played (60.0%), including 23 multi-punchout contests (18.4%).

July 2023: Yordan was chosen as DH starter to the All-Star Game. Alvarez, now a three-time All-Star, has slashed .297/.374/.510 and, with 18 home runs, will threaten his career high of 37.

July 21, 2024: Alvarez went 4-for-4 with a single, a homer, a triple and a double. He’s the second player in the Majors this year to hit for the cycle (Wyatt Langford, June 30) and the second to do it in T-Mobile history (Miguel Tejada on Sept. 29, 2001). 

The game hadn’t started yet and Yordan was already making an impact with his bat.

During batting practice before the Astros faced the Rays at Tropicana Field, the 27-year-old slugger blasted a home run to right field. The ball was hit so far and with such force that it hit the right-field Jumbotron at the Trop, causing it to glitch, according to multiple reports. With nine minutes until the first pitch, the screen was completely black. It was still dark when the game began at 6:50 p.m. ET. 

Alvarez said there was an impromptu “Home Run Derby” with his teammates, leading to the blast that broke the video board. The distance between home plate and the right-field wall, where the Jumbotron is perched, is 382 feet.

Alvarez has previously broken a Jumbotron with a home run during batting practice. On Aug. 24, 2019, at Minute Maid Park, Alvarez damaged the right-field El Grande scoreboard with a batting practice homer. The home run went 455 feet, per an Astros spokesperson, with the ball damaging a small LED square in the bottom right corner. 

“That one I know was me, obviously nothing happened to the scoreboard on that one,” Alvarez said. “Sometimes in BP I try to put some intention in some of those swings.” (Weese/Rome - Aug 13, 2024 - The Athletic)

Yordan Alvarez was on the wild-card roster. Alvarez, who batted .308 with 35 homers this season, sprained his right knee — the same knee he had surgically repaired in 2020 — on an awkward slide Sept. 22. His availability for this series was in question as he rehabbed with team physicians, but he recovered quickly and will start for the Astros in Game 1.

“He’s not 100 percent, but he’s good enough,” Espada said. “With how fast he recovered, I am not shocked, but it was fast. Credit to him. He wants to be out there for the team, and I respect that.”

Asked to put a percentage on Alvarez’s health, Espada replied, “I don’t know, but whatever percentage it is, Yordan Alvarez at 70 or 80 percent is better than a lot of players in this league.”

Espada acknowledged that Alvarez will not be running the bases at full speed, but he hopes playoff adrenaline can provide an extra boost. (Nesbitt/Rome - Oct 1, 2024 - The Athletic)

TRANSACTIONS

June 2016: The Dodgers signed Yordan Alvarez, an 18-year-old who played first base in Cuba but has also showcased in left field. The deal, first reported by MLB.com, is for $2 million, which means the Dodgers paid $4 million total because they have to pay a 100 percent overage tax for exceeding their bonus pool.

He was signed by scouts Ismael Cruz and Mike Tosar.

Alvarez's calling card is his bat control and plus bat speed. Scouts believe that combination allows him to project as a plus hitter with plus power to all parts of the yard. He reminds scouts of Rafael Palmeiro with a front-foot rotation into his swing and the knack for barreling and back-spinning the ball with ease.

He centers the ball with regularity and can crush the ball to the opposite field. Alvarez uses the middle of the field well. His swing is not really geared for power but the ball carries and his leverage and bat speed produce high exit velocities. Yordan has a 55 or 60 grade hit tool. And his power gets the same grade, but with a future 65 or 70 coming. 

For a tall, long-limbed hitter, Alvarez has excellent plate coverage, in large part because of strike-zone knowledge and an all-fields approach. He has a chance to be an above-average hitter in addition to having plus power, which could lead to 30-homer seasons.

“He’s hitter-ish, if that’s a word,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Because of the presence he has and his setup, he’s a big boy in the box, he has a plan and he’s been able to execute it early in camp.

“He’s got great presence in the batter’s box. He controls his body in the batter’s box pretty well and he takes some really big swings,” Hinch said. “He hits the ball hard, draws a fair share of walks. He’s been very disciplined at the plate, which I’ve liked, and his timing seems good.” (Spring, 2019)

Yordan gets a 60 grade for his power, and he has at least a 60 for his hit tool.

Alvarez has a big strike zone, but his pitch recognition allows him to lay off pitches out of the zone. He has good plate coverage.

2018 Season: Lingering knee discomfort often limited Alvarez to DH duty and hampered his outfield play, but he hit and hit for power. He showed some of the best raw power in the league, was the rare lefthanded hitter who could hit same-side pitchers (.349/.384/.543) and showed an impressive feel to hit beyond what many sluggers can claim.

June 12, 2019:  Alvarez becoming the first player in franchise history to hit a home run in his first two games.

June 23, 2019: It was the seventh home run for Alvarez in the first 12 games of his career, establishing an Astros franchise record and becoming only the fourth player in history to accomplish that feat.

"We heard a lot of good things about him," Jose Altuve said of Houston's No. 3 prospect. "That's one thing, but it's another thing actually watching him play and execute every swing. He has a bright future, and he's going to be a big part of this team."

Alvarez has also driven in 16 runs, which makes him the only player in history with at least seven homers and 16 RBIs through 12 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

July 22, 2019:  Yordan got some advice from Albert Pujols of the Angels when he reached first base last week. Pujols told the rookie to keep working hard and stay focused.

The red-hot Alvarez now finds himself knocking Pujols from the record books, setting a Major League record previously held by the veteran slugger when he drove in his 35th run in his 30th Major League game in an 11-1 win over the A’s at Minute Maid Park.

“I’m very happy and very grateful,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “It’s something I just found out when I got here to the clubhouse, and just hearing that news is something that’s really great for the start of my career.”

Alvarez led off the second inning with a solo homer off Homer Bailey, which tied him with Pujols for most RBIs (34) through the first 30 games of a career. Alvarez added the record-breaking 35th RBI with a double in a seven-run third inning that put the Astros ahead, 11-0.

August 10, 2019: His three homers in a 23-2 drubbing of the Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards propelled him to 51 RBIs in his brief career. That's the most by any player in his first 45 career games, surpassing Ted Williams’ mark of 47 in 1939.

Sept. 9, 2019:  Alvarez is the first Astros player to hit a fair ball into the third deck in Houston. Jeromy Burnitz did it on Sept. 29, 2000, in the first year Minute Maid Park opened as Enron Field.

Marking the seat follows a tradition that the Astros had at the Astrodome. Only three Astros players hit homers into the upper deck in the Dome—Jimmy Wynn (April 12, 1970), Doug Rader (on April 3, 1970) and Eric Anthony (May 17, 1990). Those seats were painted to commemorate the players’ achievements. 

Alvarez set a club rookie single-season record when he blasted his 23rd and 24th home runs on Monday, two of the club single-game record-tying seven homers hit by the Astros, including a Major League record six in the first two innings.

On July 19, 2019, he walloped a 474-foot homer that was the longest of the season by the Astros and ninth-longest in MLB that year. Alvarez also slugged three homers in a game Aug. 10 in Baltimore. A month later, he became the first Astros player to hit a fair ball into the third deck at Minute Maid Park when he homered down the right-field line.  –Brian McTaggart

May 7, 2021:  With his RBI groundout in the eighth inning, Yordan became the fastest player in the expansion era (since 1961) and the seventh-fastest player all-time to reach 100 RBI. This marked Alvarez’s 114th career game.

June 23, 2021:  Yordan's seventh-inning homer was the 39th of his career and came in his 150th career game, which is a club record.  The previous record was 38 homers in the first 150 games with the Astros, which was achieved by Moises Alou in 1998.  Carlos Beltrán and George Springer each had 32 homers in their first 150 games with the club.

June 2022: Alvarez was named the AL Player of the Month. 

Alvarez batted .418 in June with nine home runs and 28 RBIs with the same number of walks (13) as strikeouts. On the season, Alvarez is second in baseball in home runs (23), fifth in RBIs (56) and first in slugging (.658).

Alvarez was named June’s first AL Player of the Week when he slashed .565/.630/1.217 with four home runs, eight RBIs, two walks and only one strikeout in the first week of June.

His signature moment of the month came on June 22, when he slugged a pair of 400-plus-foot home runs against the Mets. (H Palattella - MLB.com - July 2, 2022)

Nov 10, 2022: Yordan won his first AL Silver Slugger Award as a DH.

Alvarez, who is an AL MVP Award finalist, ranked second in the Majors in slugging percentage (.613) and OPS (1.019), trailing only Judge. Alvarez also ranked third in on-base percentage (.406) and seventh in batting average (.306), all while racking up 37 home runs and 97 RBIs.

April 3, 2023: Alvarez joined rare company with his second home run of the season. Alvarez hit a three-run game-tying home run in the bottom of the fifth inning, his 100th career home run.

It was Alvarez's 372nd major league game, making him the fifth fastest to reach the century mark for home runs in terms of games since 1900, according to ESPN. Only Ryan Howard, Pete Alonso, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge had hit 100 homers in fewer games than Alvarez. (Andrew Meyers)

The ball exited his bat with a velocity of 117.7 miles per hour, the hardest-hit homer since Statcast started tracking in 2015.

This put the slugger in rare air as he became the third-fastest player in MLB history to reach 250 extra-base hits and 250 walks, accomplishing that feat in 489 games according to OptaSTATS. The only players in the modern era who achieved it faster were Lou Gehrig in 439 and Ted Williams in 463.

July 21, 2024: Alvarez hit for his first cycle.

The Astros had Alvarez work on first base in the Arizona Fall League after the 2017 season. Because of his frame, many around the industry project Alvarez to end up at first, but he has surprised the Astros with how he has played the outfield. First base is the position at which they want him to get more exposure in the AFL.

“He’s a big guy, so he kind of gets the label of being a first baseman first and then an outfielder. But he’s actually really fleet of foot and runs well in the outfield,” farm director Pete Putila said. “He’s pretty natural out there. We just want him to really just work around the first base bag.”

Right now, Alvarez is a better left fielder than first baseman. But he is not very good at either.

Yordan's fringe-average arm is his lowest-graded tool, with a 40 grade. And his overall defense also gets a 40 grade.

Alvarez still needs a lot of work defensively in left field. He doesn’t cover much ground and often spends his prep time hitting rather than working on his defense. (2018)

July 2017: Alvarez mostly played through an injured wrist that sapped his power the second half of the season.

May 16-June 16, 2018: Yordan was on the DL with a wrist injury.

July 12-Aug 14, 2020: Yordan was on the IL.

Aug 16-Nov 2, 2020: Yordan was on the IL with right knee discomfort.

Aug 19, 2020: The nagging right knee injury that has plagued Alvarez for the past year will result in season-ending surgery.

August 28, 2020: Astros manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Alvarez underwent season-ending surgery to repair a partial tear of the patella tendon in his right knee and a routine cleanup was performed on his left knee.

April 14-20, 2021:  Yordan was on the IL.

April 28-31, 2021: Yordan was on the IL.

April 15-18, 2022: Yordan was on the IL.

July 10, 2022: Yordan was on the IL with right hand inflammation.

June 9-July 26, 2023: Yordan was on the IL with right oblique discomfort.

July 6, 2024: Alvarez was struck on the right knee by a 94 mph fastball thrown by Twins pitcher Joe Ryan in the sixth inning and was hobbled after the game. Alvarez initially stayed in the game and ran the bases, but didn't bat in the eighth inning. The same knee was hit by a pitch on June 26.

May 5, 2025: Yordan was on the IL with right hand inflammation.

May 6, 2025: Alvarez was scratched from the Houston lineup prior to the game against the White Sox in Chicago and didn’t play. Astros manager Joe Espada said Alvarez showed up at American Family Field feeling better, but the club thinks he needs more time to allow the hand to fully heal.

“We gotta get him right, and I think with a few more days of rest, I think it will benefit him and hopefully we get him back by the homestand,” Espada said. “He’s flying back to Houston today to see the doctors and get some imaging and make sure that we’re on the right track.”

May 31, 2025: General manager Dana Brown revealed that Alvarez has a “very small fracture” in his right hand.

Alvarez was originally diagnosed with a muscle strain in his right hand following a May 6 MRI, and Brown said the swelling and inflammation in the hand prevented the team from seeing the broken bone. Alvarez said the swings he’s been taking in the last week may have exacerbated the injury, which won’t require surgery.