04 October 2022 – 15:00
Juan Carlos Espinosa
Havana, Oct. 4 (EFE).- Yordan Álvarez (Las Tunas, 1997) has done it again: the Cuban signed this year with the Astros in Major League Baseball for a regular season of anthology that generates similar sensations to those of 2021, when he established himself as the most valuable (MVP) of the American League championship series.
Álvarez’s path has not been easy. A right-hand injury last June thwarted a streak that put him on the shortlist for possible American League MVP.
In his first 61 games he averaged an OPS – the base average and batting power – of 1,064, those over 1,000 are classified as complete. On top of that, he was considered the AL’s best player in June.
After two months of hiatus and irregularities, he now sits atop a team that surpasses 100 wins this season, the best record in its conference and the only team to have that number with the Los Angeles Dodgers (League national).
“Yordan and (José) Abreu (of the Chicago White Sox) had a very good season, but by OPS, Álvarez should be considered the best,” said journalist Francys Romero.
Daniel de Malas, CEO of the Cuban Swing Complete website, agrees with Romero: “Yordan definitely. Abreu has had fewer singles, he is way below his own standards.”
In the week of Sept. 19-25, the official major league website placed Álvarez second in the hitting “power rankings,” only behind Aaron Judge of the Yankees.
To understand the meteoric rise of Álvarez, who made his major league debut in 2019 as a designated hitter and left fielder, one need only look to his years as a player in the national series, the Cuban baseball league. .
The Astros star was an unknown who made his debut for the Las Tunas Lumberjacks at age 16.
In nearly 80 games on the Cuban circuit, he averaged an acceptable .274 and one run. But Álvarez discovered the power of his guns after emigrating from the island in 2015.
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His defection, after two seasons with the Lumberjacks, came in a year marked by player exodus, a disease endemic to the Caribbean country: 150 left the island in search of better opportunities.
He took a route already carved in stone for Cuban talents who left without government approval: the Dominican Republic.
After defecting and following a stint in the MLB Development League, Álvarez made his 2019 debut with the Astros and became the player with the shortest 51 RBIs in his first 45 games.
Additionally, he won the American League’s top rookie title by unanimous decision. He was the fifth Cuban to achieve it.
However, in 2020 injuries kept him away from the diamonds and halted an upward streak in his short career.
Neither in 2019 nor in 2021, his best years before that, Álvarez was able to win the World Series. Both times his team went to the Fall Classic to finish second.
This post-season could therefore mark a before and after for the Cuban baseball player. ECE
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