Yordan Alvarez’s Magnificent Start Giving Astros AL MVP Vibes

It’s not fair to ask Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez to carry the team. But, right now, that’s what he’s doing.

On Saturday night he hit his ninth home run of the season, pushing him into the lead in that category ahead of the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge. Alvarez has never won an American League MVP Award. Judge has won three. Perhaps this is the year the Astros slugger finally lands one.

His incredible start is just the beginning of the early case he’s making for the award.

Yordan Alvarez’s Scorching Start

Doing what he does best.#ChaseTheFight pic.twitter.com/NgoZnPaFD5
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 18, 2026

It isn’t just that Alvarez leads qualifying hitters with nine home runs. His slash is incredible entering Sunday’s game — .342/.485/.789 with a 1.274 OPS. Among qualifying batters only two have a better batting average — the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andy Pages (.389) and the Tampa Bay Rays’ Yandy Diaz (.354). Alvarez’s on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS is tops among qualified hitters in the Majors.

Only Pages (21) has more RBI than Alvarez (20).

Right now, he’s the most productive hitter in the game. He’s miles ahead of Judge. While he’s slammed eight home runs and is right behind Alvarez, he is only slashing .234/.337/.584. Judge is likely to pick up that average. Alvarez is likely to come back to earth. But his start, relative to the rest of the Majors, has few equals.

In a season when offense is down across baseball, Alvarez has three fewer home runs than the worst team in baseball in the category, the Boston Red Sox. They have 12 home runs. The San Francisco Giants are next at 13.

This is redemption for Alvarez, who endured his worst season in 2025 as he missed months with a hand injury that was eventually diagnosed as a hairline fracture. He played in just 48 games. Yet, his bat was productive. He slashed .273/.367/.430 with six home runs and 27 RBI.

Yes, he’s already hit more home runs than a year ago and he’s on track to have more RBI than a year ago by the end of April.

This season is shaping up like his 2022 season, which helped the Astros win the World Series and was probably the offensive season of his career. He was an All-Star, an AL Silver Slugger and finished third in AL MVP voting after he slashed .306/.406/.613 with 37 home runs and 97 RBI. The AL MVP in 2022 was Judge, who broke the AL record for most home runs in a season with 62.

Judge has won three of the last four awards. This may be the year Alvarez finally catches him.

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