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It is easy to get caught up in the negatives of the Houston Astros' latest struggles. The offense as a whole has looked extremely ordinary for a couple weeks now, and the bullpen has been very inconsistent. Oddly enough, the area that was the biggest question mark coming out of the trade deadline was the Astros' rotation, and they have played perfectly fine lately.
However, there has been one bright spot on offense lately, and that has been the play of Yordan Álvarez. Álvarez got off to a bit of a slow start (by his standards) to the 2024 season. He had around an .800 OPS through May before heating up along with the weather.
Now, he is currently in the middle of a torrid stretch that could end up being the best of the season at the exact moment when Houston needs it most. And oh, look at that, he drilled a trademark laser home run on Wednesday to further cement his status.
Yordan Álvarez's hot streak being overlooked during Astros' recent struggles
Since the All-Star break (entering play on Wednesday), the Astros' offense has ranked just 25th in all of baseball by fWAR at a measly 0.7. Jon Singleton, Mauricio Dubon, and Jake Meyers combined have combined for -0.7 fWAR which is obviously not good. Over that same span, Álvarez has posted a 154 wRC+, .918 OPS, and 0.5 fWAR. Only Yainer Diaz, who has really found himself of late, has been more valuable in Houston's lineup in the second half.
Looking at just the month of August (admittedly a small sample), Álvarez looks completely dialed in with a .368/.455/.579 line despite only having one homer so far. While topping his 1.139 OPS from June won't be easy, he is only a couple homers away from being on pace to do just that.
At some point, Álvarez (and Diaz) are going to need some help from the rest of the Astros lineup. Getting Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve going would be huge, and Jake Meyers not being a black hole in the lineup would help a lot as well. However, Houston will always have a chance as long as Álvarez keeps this up and, based on his track record, that seems to be quite likely.