For the first time since 2016, we got no postseason Major League Baseball in the city of Houston last year. There is no tippy toeing around this — having no playoff baseball, while watching mortal enemies like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mariners play in October was awful. It was a root canal wrapped in a colonoscopy. It sucked.
If the Houston Astros are to make a return to the postseason, and hopefully make a deep postseason run, the health of two players in particular is non-negotiable — they must have a healthy Yordan Alvarez, and they must have a healthy Hunter Brown.
Well, the baseball gods have already weighed in negatively on one of those two players, with Brown headed to the 15-day Injured List (IL) with a right shoulder strain. As of this writing, the severity of the injury is undetermined, although manager Joe Espada said that Brown didn’t seem overly concerned that it was something long term. Either way, the Hunter Brown news stinks.
Now, that said, the gods have outdone themselves these first couple weeks when it comes to the other half of the “non-negotiable” equation, as Yordan Alvarez was named the American League Player of the Week for his outstanding performance against the Red Sox and Athletics last week, during the week of March 30 through April 5. Indeed, after a season in 2025 where Alvarez played only 48 games, he is, thus far, the best version of himself.
Here are a few thoughts on the Astros’ first individual accolade of the season:
Alvarez’s numbers were astounding last week
For the week, Alvarez batted an astroudning .471 (8 for 17), with two doubles, three home runs, seven runs scored, and eight RBI, while notching an incredible 1.733 OPS. Alvarez, as of Tuesday, was at or near the top of the league in all of these categories. To no one’s surprise, teams are avoiding pitching to Alvarez at all costs, giving him almost no hittable pitches, which is a big reason, as of Tuesday, he led the big leagues in walks with 13.
Alvarez is not alone in the “other worldly Astro” category, thus far
Alvarez’s early season offensive outburst has set the tone for a team that is averaging seven runs per game, through 11 games. It’s long been stated that Alvarez’s mere presence in the lineup has a transformative effect on the others batting around him. To that end, Alvarez is one of four Astro hitters, as of Tuesday morning, with an OPS of over 1.000. He’s joined in the “1.000 OPS Club” by Jose Altuve, Christian Walker, and second year outfielder Cam Smith. Early in the seaosn, this team has functioned offensively far more like its predecessors from 2019 through 2022 than the version the last three seasons.
Can Jose Altuve keep this up?
As long as we are talking about the “others” surrounding Alvarez, let’s talk Altuve for a second. Jose Altuve might be favorite Houston athlete of all time. So, as he ages into his mid and late 30s, naturally I’m concerned that we begin to enter territory where I am merely tolerating his being on the team, because of degradation in play. The last few years have seen Altuve commit poor base running gaffes, seen his defensive play decline, and seen him engage in poor plate judgment. Well, lo and behold, he is better, MUCH better, in all three of those categories so far this season, particularly his plate discipline, where he trails only Alvarez in walks, with 12. This has been a welcome development on par with the return of “peak level” Yordan!
