Astros disrespect reaches a new level after Yordan Alvarez's latest snub

One of the keys to the Houston Astros' 2026 success will be how well Yordan Alvarez performs. As bad as things were at the end of last season, one has to imagine that if Alvarez wasn't limited to 48 games last year, the Astros would have made the playoffs.

The superstar slugger has been a consensus top-5 hitter in the league over the last several years. Aaron Judge is in a class by himself, but Alvarez has been right there with Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani in the tier of truly elite hitters in the game. In fact, since Alvarez debuted in 2019, only Judge has beaten his 163 wRC+.

So when MLB.com released their ranking of the top-10 hitters in the game (11 really, because there was a tie), one would've been sure to include Alvarez, right? Instead, he was relegated to the "others receiving votes" category.

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez being omitted from MLB.com's top-10 hitters list is insanity

There are only two reasons to omit Alvarez, and neither makes much sense. One is taking his injury-plagued 2025 to heart, while the other has to do with his slow start last season before his hand injury.

The superstar's pleas to play more left field have fallen on deaf ears, but as he pointed out, he's never gotten hurt while playing the field. More importantly, he's not an overly injury-prone player.

When his hand finally healed, Alvarez returned with a vengeance, posting a 185 wRC+ until a mid-September sprained ankle ended his year. It seems pretty clear that he's still a dominant force.

Now let's consider some of the players who beat him out and the holes we can poke in their cases. Ronald Acuña Jr. is a phenomenal talent, but if Alvarez is docked because of a freak fracture in his hand, how is it that a player like Acuña, who has suffered two torn ACLs, can rank ahead of him?

Division rival Cal Raleigh had a magical season with 60 homers, but even with that, his 161 wRC+ ranks behind four different seasons that Alvarez has put up. The big difference comes with Alvarez's ability to hit for both power and average. Alvarez is a career .297 hitter, while Raleigh's posted a .226 mark since arriving in the bigs. That's a substantial difference.

If track record matters, there's no reason why youngsters like Nick Kurtz or Junior Caminero should be included, because, as good as they are, they both have only had a full season each of elite production.

Alvarez turns 29 on June 27. He's in the prime of his career and has shown no real signs of decline. He's one of the most well-rounded hitters in the game, hitting for both average and power. There's a reason why Astros insider Chandler Rome believes he'll hit 40 homers this year.

Alvarez has got the track record, the production, and the upside to be one of the very best hitters in the game. Leaving him off a list of such players is nothing other than pure insanity.