Houston Astros left fielder Yordan Alvarez is one of the best sluggers as well as the arguable best left fielder in the league. His excellence at the plate knows little bounds; a left-handed hitter, he barely suffers any drop-off against same-sided pitching (.946 career OPS) all the while being a monster against right-handers (.992). But whenever Chris Bassitt is on the mound, it's as if Alvarez is a shark that has smelled blood in the water, and this was the case during the Astros' 8-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Entering the Astros' Wednesday night matchup against the Blue Jays, Alvarez was 5-15 for his career against Bassitt, with four of those hits being home runs. That was already impressive. But what Alvarez did was to extend his dominance over Bassitt even further. In three at-bats against Bassitt, Alvarez went 3-3, including a solo home run in the third inning and a run-scoring double in the fourth inning.

It got the point where all Chris Bassitt could do was tip his hat to Yordan Alvarez. Even the Blue Jays starter found it a bit comical that the Astros left fielder does nothing but rake whenever he's on the mound, and Bassitt let him know this at the conclusion of the fourth inning after he stranded Alvarez at second base.

“You’re f*cking killing me, man,” Bassitt said with a huge smile on his face, eliciting a laugh from Alvarez as well, from Talkin' Baseball on Twitter (X) via ClutchPoints.

Greatness shines through no matter the opposition; it just so happened that Chris Bassitt is the one standing in Yordan Alvarez's way. The best thing for Bassitt to do is to not taking anything the Astros left fielder does to his pitches personally, and it's good to see him find the light-hearted aspect of things even though it surely does not feel good to give up runs.

Chris Bassitt is not a bad pitcher

This is worth mentioning again: Chris Bassitt is not a bad pitcher. It's not like he's a washed-up veteran who's simply relied upon to get a few outs and eat a few innings for a bad team. In 2023, Bassitt tallied a 3.60 ERA in 200 innings of work (33 starts), which was good for 2.6 WAR, per Fangraphs. That is very valuable, especially for a Blue Jays team that's in need of some pitching depth.

But Bassitt simply may not have the tools to get Yordan Alvarez out. His pitching diet consists mostly of sinkers and cutters, while sprinkling in a few sliders and curveballs. This evidently doesn't give the Astros slugger any trouble whatsoever. Perhaps Bassitt could develop a knuckleball or maybe even an eephus just to get Alvarez off-balance at the plate.

Yordan Alvarez is that guy for the Astros

Yordan Alvarez is one of the scariest matchups for any pitcher in the MLB today, and it's thanks to his well-rounded game at the plate. He has the power, the discipline, and the contact ability to rake against any opposition, and it just so happened that he finds it easy to rack up hits against Chris Bassitt.

The pitch that has given Alvarez the most trouble in his career is the curveball, although curveballs usually work in conjunction with other pitches to increase its effectiveness. Alvarez has little-to-no trouble squaring up other pitches, however, so it's not like it's easy to set up a curveball against him. This lack of a notable weakness at the plate makes him one of the best in the league today.