The Cuban Yordan Álvarez etched his name in another chapter of baseball history: the native of Las Tunas became only the fifth player of all time to record 40 or more home runs, 100 or more runs batted in, and at least 30 intentional walks in a single Major League season before turning 30 years old.
The analyst Francys Romero was the one who documented the milestone on his social media, highlighting that "Álvarez continues to build a career as a player of the era."
The 2026 season of the designated hitter for the Houston Astros shows impressive numbers: 41 home runs, 102 RBIs, a .314 batting average, and a 1.032 OPS in 153 games, along with 33 intentional walks, according to ESPN.
That last figure is no minor detail. The fact that opposing coaching staffs prefer to put Álvarez on base rather than risk facing him in critical moments speaks volumes about the level of respect he commands among pitchers across the American League.
The club that the player from Tunero has just joined is of extreme exclusivity. Before him, only four sluggers had achieved this: Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco, 1989), Barry Bonds (San Francisco, 1993), Ryan Howard —who accomplished it two consecutive times with Philadelphia in 2006 and 2007— and Albert Pujols (St. Louis, 2009).
No batter had achieved that combination in the 17 years since Pujols' campaign, which further highlights Álvarez's achievement.
At 29 years old and with another elite season under his belt, the baseball player from Las Tunas continues to set historical records that establish him as one of the most dominant power hitters of his generation and as one of the greatest Cubans in the history of Major League Baseball.
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