HOUSTON, TX – Tonight on MLB Network, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) named DH/LF Yordan Alvarez the 2026 American League Most Valuable Player. Alvarez won the award over the Rays 3B Junior Caminero and the Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. in the voting.
Alvarez, 29, won his first career MVP award and became the third player in franchise history to earn the honor, joining 2B Jose Altuve in 2017 and 1B Jeff Bagwell in 1994. Alvarez batted .316 (179×567) with 105 runs, 34 doubles, one triple,
42 home runs, 106 RBI, 109 walks and a 1.033 OPS in 158 games. He led the AL in batting average, OPS, slugging percentage (.601), on-base percentage (.432), total bases (341), walks (109), intentional walks (33), wRC+ (181), OPS+ (190) and extra-base hits (77), while also ranking tied for second in home runs, second in RBI, second in hits, fourth in doubles and fourth in runs scored. Additionally, Alvarez was the only player in the Majors this season to post an OPS over 1.000.
Alvarez won the American League and Major League batting titles, becoming the third player in franchise history to win a batting title, joining 1B Yuli Gurriel (2021) and 2B Jose Altuve (2014, 2016-17). He also became just the third player since 1970 to win the AL batting title while hitting 40-or-more home runs, joining NYY OF Aaron Judge (2025) and DET 1B Miguel Cabrera (2012-13). Alvarez set the Astros franchise record with 33 intentional walks, which was just three shy of the all-time AL record, set by Judge in 2025 (36).
This season, Alvarez won three AL Player of the Week honors along with two AL Player of the Month honors. He was also selected to his fourth career All-Star Game, and it was the second time that he was voted as a starter (also, 2024).
Last night, Alvarez received the AL Hank Aaron Award, the AL Comeback Player of the Year, the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award and was an All-MLB First Team selection.
