Yordan Alvarez headshot

Yordan Alvarez

Houston Astros · DH · through 2026-09-05

Elite season

Why he matters right now

Yordan Alvarez is top-10 in the majors in batting average, total bases and home runs (and 3 other boards)

He is 2nd in batting average at .315, 2nd in total bases at 301, 4th in home runs at 37 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED hitter in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.

The case in 30 seconds

  • .315 2nd in batting average at .315, 2nd in total bases at 301, 4th in home runs at 37 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • 94.4 mph average exit velocity 94.4 mph over 401 batted-ball events — 3rd on a 10-deep board of the season's hardest hitters Statcast 2026 hardest-hit leaderboard (single season, top 10 only — not a league-wide ranking)
Contact quality
  • Average exit velocity94.4mph
  • Hard-hit rate53.4%
  • Barrel rate16.2%
  • Max exit velocity118.5mph

This season only, 401 batted-ball events. Ranked 3rd on a 10-deep board of the season's hardest hitters — that is a top-of-the-league board, not a league-wide ranking.

The honest caveat

It is still a partial season — 618 plate appearances so far. A rate moves fastest against the strongest arms a schedule has left, and the schedule ahead is not the schedule behind.

What to watch next

Next up: vs Arizona Diamondbacks. 49 more to reach 350 TB.

Every claim above, with its source (2)
  1. 2nd in batting average at .315, 2nd in total bases at 301, 4th in home runs at 37 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. average exit velocity 94.4 mph over 401 batted-ball events — 3rd on a 10-deep board of the season's hardest hitters Statcast 2026 hardest-hit leaderboard (single season, top 10 only — not a league-wide ranking)

Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Yordan Alvarez is on the season's hardest-contact board.

The evidence

Tracked on Live Chases

The score is an editorial score, not a measurement on a common scale. The rank above is this player's position on his own category's board — the ordering the site stands behind. See all tracked chases →

What changed last night

0-for-3 L 3-4 vs Arizona Diamondbacks · 2026-09-05 carries a .315 average into today

What to watch next

vs Arizona Diamondbacks Daikin Park · 2:10 p.m. ET Facing Eduardo Rodriguez

Yordan Alvarez faces a left-hander in Eduardo Rodriguez. He is hitting .268 with 9 home runs in 142 at-bats against left-handers this season.

Situational splits

SplitABAVGHRRBIOPS
vs RHP 362 .334 2870 1.106
vs LHP 142 .268 924 .828
Home 260 .365 2053 1.161
Away 244 .262 1741 .893
Day 151 .285 822 .964
Night 353 .329 2972 1.059

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

141G
504AB
159H
.315AVG
37HR
94RBI
1SB
292B
13B
1.031OPS

Chasing .400

.315Current AVG
72Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
83-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.045Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (70-for-67)

Status: IMPOSSIBLE

Milestone tracker

ChaseTargetCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
.350 AVG .350 .315 .315 .612 ROS EXTREME
.380 AVG .380 .315 .315 .866 ROS EXTREME
.400 AVG .400 .315 .315 1.045 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.406 AVG .406 .315 .315 1.090 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.466 AVG .466 .315 .315 1.612 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
50 HR 50 37 42 13 in 19 g · 1 per 5.2 AB EXTREME
60 HR 60 37 42 23 in 19 g · 1 per 2.9 AB EXTREME
62 HR 62 37 42 25 in 19 g · 1 per 2.7 AB EXTREME
70 HR 70 37 42 33 in 19 g · 1 per 2.0 AB EXTREME
73 HR 73 37 42 36 in 19 g · 1 per 1.9 AB EXTREME
200 Hits 200 159 180 41 in 19 g EXTREME
225 Hits 225 159 180 66 in 19 g EXTREME
250 Hits 250 159 180 91 in 19 g EXTREME
262 Hits 262 159 180 103 in 19 g EXTREME
50 SB 50 1 1 49 in 19 g EXTREME
80 SB 80 1 1 79 in 19 g EXTREME
100 SB 100 1 1 99 in 19 g EXTREME
130 SB 130 1 1 129 in 19 g EXTREME
50 2B 50 29 33 21 in 19 g EXTREME
60 2B 60 29 33 31 in 19 g EXTREME
67 2B 67 29 33 38 in 19 g EXTREME
20 3B 20 1 1 19 in 19 g EXTREME
25 3B 25 1 1 24 in 19 g EXTREME
36 3B 36 1 1 35 in 19 g EXTREME
125 RBI 125 94 106 31 in 19 g EXTREME
150 RBI 150 94 106 56 in 19 g EXTREME
175 RBI 175 94 106 81 in 19 g EXTREME
191 RBI 191 94 106 97 in 19 g EXTREME

How likely is the finish?

52%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs

His rate of 59.870 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 54.380 after regressing toward the league's 30.150 — a leaderboard selects for players who have outperformed, so an unregressed rate projected forward overstates every one of them. That puts the expected finish at 40.7, against a straight team-game pace of 42. Exact beta-binomial over 82 remaining plate appearances, averaged across playing-time scenarios. Calibrated against Retrosheet finishes: within 7 points of observed frequency in every band, and within 2 in three of five. It is a model, not a measurement.

Home run pace vs the benchmark seasons

36730162 gJudge 62Bonds 7337
Cumulative home runs by team game against straight 62 (Judge 2022) and 73 (Bonds 2001) paces. The homepage checkpoint card uses the exact game-by-game Retrosheet curves; these reference lines are straight-line paces.
46.0%of comparable chases reached 40 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 50 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 60 HR

Empirical: seasons within ±2 HR of his total at the same team-game checkpoint (n=302); median finish 39. Retrosheet.

Recent game log

Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.

DateOppResultABHHRRBIRSBBBKAVG
2026-09-05 Arizona Diamondbacks L 3-4 30 0 00 02 2 .315
2026-09-04 Arizona Diamondbacks W 3-1 42 0 01 00 0 .317
2026-09-02 Chicago White Sox W 2-0 20 0 01 01 1 .316
2026-09-01 Chicago White Sox L 1-5 42 0 00 00 0 .317
2026-08-31 Chicago White Sox W 6-3 51 0 11 03 2 .316
2026-08-30 New York Mets W 6-3 50 0 00 00 1 .317
2026-08-29 New York Mets L 2-6 32 1 21 00 0 .320
2026-08-28 New York Mets W 3-1 20 0 01 02 0 .318
2026-08-27 New York Yankees W 5-1 40 0 00 00 3 .319
2026-08-26 New York Yankees L 3-9 41 0 00 00 2 .322

Recent highlights

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Historical twinTed Kluszewski · 1953

87% season-shape match

HR checkpoint-23 vs Barry Bonds

Through 143 team games; 60 in 2001

Chase history

.300.361.42303-3109-05
Batting average, day by day
42628103-3109-05
Projected HR, day by day