Friday, May 29

Yordan Alvarez is on pace to shatter Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell’s single-season franchise home run record of 47 set in 2000, and his 190 career homers are one shy of Alex Bregman for sixth place on the Astros' all-time home runs list.

Alvarez slugged five home runs in the first three games of the series at Texas, making him the fastest in club history to reach 20 homers (57 team games), He’s on his way to one of the most prolific offensive seasons in club history, if he can stay healthy. 

Here’s a look at three of the best offensive seasons in Astros history and what those players think of what Alvarez is doing in 2026.

Jeff Bagwell, 1994 (449 career homers, 1st in club history)

A unanimous choice for the National League MVP Award, Bagwell put up the kind of numbers in 110 games that would have stood out in a full 162-game season. He was the first player to finish first or second in his league in average (.368), runs (104), RBIs (116) and home runs (39) since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, and the first player to lead the NL in runs and RBIs since Mike Schmidt in ’81. Bagwell also won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards and made his first All-Star team.

Bagwell on Alvarez: “This is no surprise to me. Yordan is one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. Everybody looks at the home runs and all that, but it’s the total package of what he does offensively. He understands himself, understands what pitchers are doing to him, and I think that’s a lost art at times is having an idea of going into a game knowing the gameplan against him and being able to adjust per at-bat, per pitch, and with such a good swing.

“His knowledge of himself is elite. And the main thing is -- and we’ve talked about this year -- when he’s healthy, he’s the best hitter I’ve seen. He carries the load for an offense, enjoys doing that. It feels like his expectations of himself are mostly what drives him. It’s never about the money or where you hit in the lineup, it’s the expectations of himself and he’s just elite. To watch his success has been such a pleasure.”

Lance Berkman, 2001 (326 career homers, 2nd in club history)
In his first full season in the big leagues, Berkman made the All-Star team and finished fifth in the NL MVP Award voting after placing among the league leaders in several categories, including first in doubles (55), third in batting average (.331) and fifth in on-base percentage (.430) and extra-base hits (94). His 1.051 OPS is second-highest in club history behind Bagwell's 1.201 in ‘94. He also hit 34 homers with 126 RBIs.

Berkman on Alvarez: “He’s one of the best pure hitters in the game. I honestly haven’t watched him a lot, but just what I’ve seen of him he’s got that rare combination of the ability to hit for power and to hit for average. It seems like in today’s game guys are hitting .230 with 30 home runs, but I’m always impressed with the guys that can [hit] for average and home runs.”

Craig Biggio, 1997 (291 career homers, 3rd in club history)

The Hall of Famer’s '97 season stands out as one of the best in franchise history for many reasons. Biggio slashed .309/.415/.501 that year with 22 homers, 81 RBIs, a league-leading 146 runs and 47 steals. He made his fourth consecutive All-Star team, finished fourth in NL MVP voting, won his fourth Silver Slugger Award and fourth consecutive Gold Glove. He also played in all 162 games for the second season in row.

Biggio on Alvarez: “He’s always had power and now he’s really putting it together and you can really truly see how much we missed him last year when we didn’t have him for most of the year. … The thing that really is remarkable about him is he’s 6-4, but he has a short swing for a big guy. Whenever you have a short swing, you’re always going to be successful. You put that in his frame and a guy that puts a ball in play, obviously a lot of damage can happen. He’s putting it all together this year, which is exciting to see, because he’s a tremendous slugger and a great kid, too.”

Former Astros catcher Mark Bailey, who played in 340 games for Houston from 1984-88, passed away Tuesday following a battle with cancer. He was 64 years old. The most notable moment of Bailey’s career was being behind the plate for Nolan Ryan’s 4,000 career strikeout on July 11, 1985. He caught 64 of Ryan’s starts.

Bailey coached for years in the Astros organization before joining Houston's staff as the bullpen coach from 2002-09. He was the team’s roving catching instructor through the 2020 season, capping off 23 seasons coaching with the organization. He is the third member of the 1986 Astros to pass away in the past two months. Davey Lopes passed away April 8 and Phil Garner three days later.

May 29, 2017: The Astros scored 11 runs in the eighth inning to beat the Twins, 16-8, on Memorial Day in Minneapolis. Carlos Beltrán went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, and Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa had three hits each. Beltrán capped the 11-run outburst with a three-run homer. It was the first time the Astros had scored 11 runs in an inning since July 18, 1994, vs. St. Louis. Houston had been 0-659 in franchise history going back to 1962 when entering the eighth down by six runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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