Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez blending power, plate discipline at rare level

Some stat lines you look at and they do not make sense. 

But when you look at the stat line of Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez just 30 days into the season, you would think the numbers were not real.

Yordan Alvarez has notched unbelievable stat line

A .358 batting average. A .465 on-base percentage. A .755 slugging percentage. A 1.220 OPS. On their own, that is more than enough for a headline for almost any guy. It gets even better, or worse, if you are the one on the mound.

38 hits in 106 at bats. 11 home runs. 19 walks. 11 strikeouts. Read the last one again.

Power hitters come with strings attached. There is a well-known trade off with power hitters. They may hit bombs left and right, but they also tend to strike out a lot.

Apparently, Alvarez missed the meeting on that one.

Yordan Alvarez is in complete control at the plate

Alvarez is not only hitting for power. He is controlling the strike zone and plays his at bats in a way that does not align with that profile. 

A walk number that high would usually be reserved for a guy who works singles and relies on patience to grind the pitcher down. Alvarez is proving to be a different kind of hitter.

He is barreling the ball all over the field and not expanding the zone to do it. Pitchers nibble around him, and he takes his walks. They fall behind, and they get punished for it. 

Minimal strikeouts and a high OBP

His strikeout total is the most mind-boggling stat of them all. Only 11 strikeouts in a little over a month. It is almost infuriating for pitchers to try to get him out.

It should explain his on-base percentage of .465. He is not guessing or chasing. He is not swinging too hard because he wants to keep a hot streak alive, and his power shows up naturally when that is the case.

Alvarez is not missing the good pitches he is getting, as his slugging percentage can attest to. Extra bases come much more naturally when you are hitting something you can drive and you are not swinging at things outside of the zone.

There is a rhythm to what he is doing, and it is not an ideal one for pitchers. You fall behind and you get bombed. You try to pitch around him, and he does not flinch as he takes the walk.

Can Yordan Alvarez's dominant stretch live on past April?

We are still in April and there is a lot of baseball left to play. Slumps can and do happen out of nowhere, and baseball is good at humbling any person or team who gets too comfortable.

However, that is not what is going on here.

Alvarez’s approach is far too solid, and his pitch selection is entirely too on point. This is not just a hot week of everything landing; this is a hitter who is completely in control of every single at-bat.

Once a power hitter like Alvarez starts owning the strike zone, pitchers run out of options fast. There is no safe pitch, no easy out, no margin for error. You either walk him or watch the ball leave the yard. 

Now, the only question is how long he keeps getting away with it.