Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez has had a very impressive season so far with his eyes set on securing the Triple Crown, but now he could be in jeopardy of missing out on that opportunity.
The Houston Astros have an up-and-down season, but are still in sole possession of first place in the AL West with an overall record of 64-63 and have a two-game lead over the Texas Rangers.
While the Astros have been inconsistent, one player who has been great for major parts of the season is designated hitter Yordan Alavrez who is having a season that could go down in MLB and AL history as he has his eyes set on winning the Triple Crown.
The problem with Alvarez securing the Triple Crown is that he has not been as effective from the plate recently and needs to get back on track if he does want to win the Triple Crown.
In order to win the Triple Crown, it requires that a player must lead the American League or the National League in batting average, RBIs (Runs Batted In), and home runs.
Alvarez still leads the AL in all three categories, but his recent struggles have lowered his stats a little bit and have lowered his overall ranking when looking at the entire MLB.
For the season, Alvarez now has a batting average of .317 (No. 1 in the AL and No. 2 in the MLB), 88 RBIs (No. 1 in the AL and No. 5 in the MLB), and 36 home runs (T-No. 2 in the MLB).
Overall, Alvarez is still in a great spot to win the Triple Crown and very likely the AL MVP, but he does need to find a way to get back into his rhythm at the plate and make a major impact for the Astros down the stretch.
In the month of August so far, Alvarez has not been as consistent as he normally is. So far in August, Alvarez has had 59 at-bats, which has led to him recording a batting average of .271, 16 hits, nine runs, one home run, six RBIs, and 12 strikeouts. Additionally, Alvarez has been walked 11 times so far this month.
When looking at these stats it is pretty clear why his season averages have suffered, specifically his batting average. At one point, Alvarez's batting average was .321, but as a result of these struggles he now is batting .317. When looking at this months average of .271, that is significantly lower than his current average of 3.17 and is definitely something that must be improved.
In terms of the other stats, Alvarez must find a way to impact the game more, because to have six RBIs, one home run, nine total runs, and 16 hits in a month, while the Astros are struggling with being consistent, is something that has to change.
On the home run side in particular, he only has one more than Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays for the lead in the American League. If Alvarez is not careful, Caminero could tie him and potentially pass him, which is something that Alvarez cannot allow to happen if he wants to win the Triple Crown.
Overall Alvarez is still in a good spot to win the Triple Crown, but he does need to find more consistency to finish the month of August, otherwise the final stretch of the season could be a lot tighter than Alvarez would like in his chase for the Triple Crown and possibly even the AL MVP.
