Astros: Top 5 recent sports moments: Yordan Alvarez’s emergence
The second of the Top 5 recent Houston sports moments is the emergence of Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez. Let’s look at his historic rookie season.
The Houston Astros already owned the most stacked lineup in MLB, but on June 9th, 2019 their lineup got even more dangerous when they called up Yordan Alvarez.
Before his call up to the big league, Alvarez was tearing it up in Triple-A. In his 56 games with Triple-A Round Rock Alvarez hit for an outstanding .343 average with 23 home runs and 71 RBI’s. In fact, teams started intentionally walking Alvarez, something that is rarely seen in minor league baseball. Because of his success, the Houston Astros called up Alvarez to the big leagues on June 9th, 2019.
While many minor leaguers who are called up to “The Show” are sent down shortly after, Alvarez was here to say. Alvarez immediately carried over his minor league success into the MLB, as he continued to crush baseballs, earning him the nickname Air Yordan.
In his 87 games during the regular season with the Houston Astros, Alvarez put up a .313 batting average with 27 home runs, 78 RBI’s, a .655 slugging percentage, and a 1.067 OPS.
Some of Alvarez’s best moments from his rookie season include his 474 home run off Mike Minor, his three home-run, 7 RBI game against the Baltimore Orioles, and his moonshot to Row 1, Seat 18, Section 337 of Minute Maid Park which resulted in that chair being wrapped in orange vinyl (pictures can be found here).
Take a look at Alvarez’s rookie season highlights below:
Alvarez’s historic numbers in his rookie season resulted in him in breaking numerous MLB records including 35 RBI’s in his first 30 career MLB games which broke Albert Pujols‘ record of 34 in 2001, setting the Houston Astros record for most home runs as a rookie, and unanimously winning the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year award.
Next. Myles Straw and Blake Taylor making a huge impression. dark
Houston Astros’ fans just saw a glimpse of what Alvarez is capable of during the 2019 season because the Cuban slugger is only 22-years-old. As Alvarez continues to fine-tune his craft and mature as an MLB player the sky is the limit to what he could accomplish in the future.