Astros Star Gets Surprise MVP Votes as Yordan Alvarez Wins First Award

In addition to Yordan Alvarez's MVP season, the Astros had one more player receive MVP votes.

Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes (15) Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes received a few surprising MVP votes finishing in 20th place in the American League MVP voting that was won by fellow Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez.

MVP Voting Procedure

MVP voters are asked to rank MVP candidates first through 10th. First place receives 14 points, and the players ranked two through 10 receive between nine and one points respectively. Paredes earned two 10th place votes which tied him with Cade Smith of the Guardians with two points.

Each team has two media representatives on the voting board run by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) bringing the total to 30 voters for each award. Alvarez, for instance, received all 30 first place votes for a unanimous 420 points. Dave Skretta who represents the Kansas City Chapter (Royals) and writes for the Associated Press gave Paredes his 10th place slot along with DFW Chapter (Rangers) member Kennedi Landry who writes for MLB.com.

Career Season

Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes (15) Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Paredes posted the second-best season of his career by bWAR with a 4.1 WAR output narrowly lower than his 4.2 output in 2023 with Tampa Bay. Parades played in a career high number of games played with 155. He also posted career highs in hits and times on base,

Swing Numbers

Paredes' strikeout numbers have come down from where they were in his time with Chicago and Tampa Bay. In 2023 and 2024, he struck out in 18.2% and 16.4% of plate appearances. He lowered that to 13.4% in a large sample size in this latest season.

The 27-year old Paredes fouls off more pitches than anyone else in baseball making him very difficult to strikeout. He led the majors with 4.43 pitches per plate appearance topping Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox who posted 4.38. Paredes still managed to stay patient only swinging at 43% of all pitches four percentage points lower than the league average. It all led to a walk rate two points higher than the league average. He finished the season with 71 free passes and a .360 on-base percentage.

Hot Finish

Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes (15) Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Mexican-born third baseman concluded the year hot with a .999 OPS in the month of September. He hit eight home runs in 24 games in the month and raised his batting average up to .262 by the end of the year.

Paredes posted a 20-game on base streak in August and September, the longest by an Astro not named Alvarez. The Astros also had a 78-74 record in games in which Paredes started.

When 30 people vote on an award, you are bound to get a few down-the-ballot votes that may surprise you. Paredes impressed Astro fans with his 20th-place finish. He had the second-best season on the team, and the Astros would have been on the outside looking in for the division title without him. He is under contract for one more season and could be bound for another great season in a contract year.