When you watch the Astros, much of the time you need to squint to see the positives. With so many injuries and such awful pitching — they are near or at the bottom of the league in most major pitching categories — even one of the best offenses in years can feel like cold comfort.
Then, you look at the number two spot in the lineup and see number 44. While last year’s offense dragged through a long season without its best hitter for most of it, this year is a different story. Yordan Alvarez is far and away the best hitter in baseball, and when the league awards him the AL Player of the Month for April (which will most certainly happen around the time this is published), it will be a reminder of just what we have her in Houston.
Let’s take a quick peek at the numbers because they are gaudy.
Alvarez is slashing .355/.463/.736 with an OPS of, wait for it, 1.199. Think for a moment that his .463 on-base percentage means he gets on base nearly half the times he walks to the plate.
He leads the majors with 12 homers in 29 games played. For reference, Cal Raleigh, who hit 60 dingers in 2025 with Seattle, had 10 in his first 29 games last year. But his slash line was a modest .234/.346/.559 with a .905 OPS.
Right now, Alvarez is first in homers (12), fourth in RBI (27), second in average (.355), first in on-base (.463), first in slugging (.736) and first in OPS (1.199). He also is 12th in walks with 21 but has only struck out 14 times.
He is not just a power hitter, he is a complete player at the plate with almost no real weakness. He has, with the help of a couple other solid performers in the lineup, turned this from a very mediocre offense to one that is 4th in runs scored.
As in seasons when he’s been healthy, every at bat is must-see baseball when Alvarez is at the plate.
Not to be “on-pace guy,” but Alvarez is on pace for 60 homers and 135 RBI in 137 games played. His career high in games played is 147. If he reaches that number or manages to go over, just being healthy for that long means, even if he hits a slump, he should become the first Astro to hit 50 home runs in a season. Jeff Bagwell hit 47 in 2000.
Yes, there is plenty to be annoyed and depressed by early in this Astros season. Pitching, the single most important element of the Astros success over the last decade, has been their weak point while hitting has been the best we have seen since 2019. For fans, it feels like watching a different ballclub altogether.
If the Astros were even mediocre on the mound instead of the story their abysmal +6.00 team ERA tells us, they would have one of the better records in baseball. They would certainly be leading the AL West, which continues to be a dumpster fire of a division.
And while it won’t make up for a lack of winning, getting to see greatness in the form of Yordan Alvarez at the plate every night isn’t a bad consolation prize.
