One of baseball’s next great hitters is emerging — and he’s already being paid like one.
On Tuesday, the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez launched his 17th home run of the season in a 4-1 win over the Mariners. He’s now second in MLB for long balls behind Aaron Judge (22).
Three of those 17 arrived after Alvarez signed a six-year, $115 million extension with Houston — and if the 24-year-old can keep up this production, it’ll be a no-brainer investment.
- The contract is the fourth-largest ever for a player yet to reach arbitration — behind Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 YRS, $340M), Buster Posey (8 YRS, $159M), and Mike Trout (6 YRS, $144.5M).
- Alvarez will make $32M across the three seasons earmarked for arbitration, then $26M in each of the final three of the deal.
- He and SP Lance McCullers are now the only two Astros signed through 2026.
The slugger is just one piece of the young core that has given Houston (36-20) a commanding 9.5-game lead in the AL West — and the third-best record in baseball.
Alvarez has also justified the money with some major accolades for such a short career.
After being named 2019 AL Rookie of the Year, he won the 2021 ALCS MVP with a 1.408 OPS.
