Ranking the Astros Hall of Fame Candidates From the Dynasty Era: Part Two

Yordan Alvarez

The 25-year old slugger is on a ridiculous trajectory. Through four seasons (though 2020 included all of two games), Alvarez carries a .296 career batting average with 98 home runs, 90 doubles, 283 RBI and a .973 OPS.

His 162 game average would be 43 home runs, 40 doubles and 125 RBI. Now, gone are the days of players playing 162, but if he can average even 145-150 games from here on out, there is no reason to believe Alvarez doesn't retire with 400 home runs, 400 doubles, an average of around .300 and an OPS in the high .900s.

His strikeout rate improves each year and his contact quality is the best in the game. The issue with Yordan isn't production, but staying on the field.

Alvarez put up a monster season in 2022, hitting 37 home runs and driving in 97 runs in only 135 games. Even in those 135, he battled a hand injury throughout, especially limiting the big man in August, when he hit only .234 with one home run and three doubles.

Now, all hitters endure slumps, but very few are the quality of Alvarez. When he is healthy, nobody in the game is better. Every other month last season, Alvarez had at least eight extra-base hits, and even that came in the first month of the season, when Houston played only 16 games.

If Yordan stays healthy, he could very well hold every record there is to hold as an Astro. He has a prodigious power stroke and is a .300 hitter. He's already got a proven postseason track record with an ALCS MVP to his name and three game-winning postseason home runs to his name. If he's healthy, he's a lock.

If he's not, he may be one of the greatest "what could have been" stories of our generation.