Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez will attest to the fact that the technological boom and sabermetric revolution have redefined how players approach the game of baseball, especially after the crucial part he played in nabbing the Game 1 of their ALDS tilt against the Seattle Mariners, 8-7.
The Mariners led 7-5 with two outs in the ninth after Paul Sewald nabbed two crucial outs. However, he was chased from the game after Jeremy Pena hit a single to center field, which put two runners on base after David Hensley was hit by a pitch. While all of that was going on, southpaw Robbie Ray had been warming up on the Mariners bullpen.
Thus, Yordan Alvarez understood that the Mariners were going to put the lefty on to gain a handedness advantage and knew what he ought to do to gain an advantage over Ray. And it worked: Alvarez sent a walk-off three-run missile to the upper-deck in right field. When asked after the game, Alvarez had a simple explanation for what made him so effective against the 31-year old left-hander.
“As soon as I saw him warming up, I knew that he was going to come into the game if it came down to me. And as soon as I saw that, I grabbed the iPad, saw our previous encounters, and just went out there,” Alvarez said, per Daniel Kramer.
Of course, some fans became immediately wary of the Astros' relationship with technology, especially because of their past sign-stealing ways. Nonetheless, it's common practice these days for players in all sports to brush up on crucial information using iPads or other tablets, and it's hard to pin a homer off a poorly-placed sinker on such allegations.
Perhaps the Mariners were just caught favoring the old-school baseball train of thought that bringing in a pitcher of the same handedness will bring a considerable advantage. Alas, Yordan Alvarez is just a different kind of beast. He has raked against lefties and righties alike.
Against southpaws during the 2022 season, Alvarez put up 10 home runs and 33 runs batted in on an incredible OPS of .998 in 192 plate appearances, rendering talks of platoon advantage moot when it comes to the 25-year old slugger.
The Astros continue their quest to redeem themselves from their 2021 World Series defeat, but if Yordan Alvarez' performances are any indication, then opposing pitchers will have little to no answers for how to deal with Alvarez' blend of ability and smarts on the plate.
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