Yordan Álvarez's performance for the Houston Astros has been eye-opening this season, to say the least.
Álvarez is baseball's No. 1 hitter right now. There's no denying that. What he has been able to do across the Astros' first 26 games of the season has been special. He's slashing .347/.466/.779 with a 1.245 OPS, 11 homers, 26 RBIs, 33 total base hits, eight doubles and 20 runs scored. Álvarez is leading the American League in most of the major offensive categories, including batting average, homers, RBIs, base hits and OPS, among others. So, there is no denying the fact that he's the top hitter in baseball right now.
But, the question is who could beat him? Álvarez is the hottest hitter in the league, but he has to come back down to earth at some point, right? If he goes the whole way leading the league in the three Triple Crown categories it would be historic, and a bit of a shock.
With all of that being said, let's take a look at six guys who could unseat Álvarez as the hottest hitter in the league at some point in the near future.
Aaron Judge
We've got to start with Judge here. When he is at his best, there arguably isn't a better offensive player in the game. Last year, he crushed 53 homers and drove in 114 runs while also winning the batting title and leading the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. The power numbers are there. He has nine homers on the season. But he's hitting .241. Soon enough, he will catch fire and will make a run at Álvarez.
Shohei Ohtani
The other obvious answer here. Ohtani is slashing .258/.382/.472 with five homers and 11 RBIs. He hasn't hit fewer than 44 homers in a season since 2022 and has had over 50 long balls in each of the last two years. At some point, he's going to start seeing red, but that hasn't been the case yet this season.
Kyle Schwarber
Schwarber is in a similar boat as Judge. The power numbers are there. Schwarber has eight homers on the season so far. But he's slashing .207/.349/.529 after slashing .240/.365/.563 in 2025. Last season, Schwarber led the National League with 56 homers and 132 RBIs. At some point, he will get hot.
Mike Trout
Mike Trout has started to look like his old self this season. He had an electric five-homer series against the Yankees and has eight homers on the season. He's hitting just .239, but his advanced metrics are insane. Soon enough, they will lead to some more luck on the field.
Munetaka Murakami
Murakami has been electric for the Chicago White Sox and has been red-hot himself. He has 10 homers and 19 RBIs on the season in 24 games played. Murakami also has homered in five straight games. In the process, he has increased his batting average from .167 to .256 as well.
José Ramírez
At some point, Ramirez is really going to get it going. We've seen him for years at this point. Every year he somehow finishes a campaign right around 30 homers and with a batting average right around .280. Right now, he has five homers and a .234 batting average. At some point, he's going to get hot and turn this around. On the bright side, he is leading the American League with 11 steals.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball as 6 Sluggers Who Could Unseat Yordan Alvarez as MLB’s Hottest Bat.
