This Teenage Astros Prospect Had Impressive Debut Season in DSL

In 47 games this season, Alvarez slashed .301/.419/.455 with an .874 OPS. He clubbed two homers, with 12 doubles, and three triples. He was an on-base machine in the DSL, walking at a higher clip than he struck out.

At the season's conclusion, Alvarez had totalled 23 walks to 19 strikeouts. It wasn't just the walks to strikeouts that showed how good the bat was for Alvarez this season. His swing decisions overall were incredible.

Alvarez would record a Swing% of 47.8% while making contact at a fantastic 82.8% rate. He limited swing-and-miss effectively as well, with an 8.2% SwStr%. Those are encouraging numbers to see from a prospect in their first taste of professional baseball, per Fangraphs.

The batted ball data was even more interesting. Alvarez hit the ball to the opposite field more than he pulled it, with a 37.9 Oppo% to a 36.4 Pull%. He kept the ground-ball contact below 40%, and nearly 30% of his contact was for line drives.

At 6-foot-4 and nearly 190 pounds, Alvarez has an interesting frame. It’s one that should fill out more as he rises through the minor leagues. With that, he could pair the possibility of more power with incredibly high quality swing decisions.

The eighth ranked prospect in the Astros system by MLB Pipeline, Alvarez is already a highly ranked prospect. Born in January of 2008, his age 18 season will be one to watch very closely in 2026. 

It’ll be interesting to see how the hit tool and swing decisions translate to every new level of the minor leagues Alvarez faces. His debut season has undoubtedly set the expectations for him to be high. If he can continue to show this production, his ceiling at the Major League level is high.

The name Kevin Alvarez is one that should rise on prospect leaderboards everywhere.