The young Cuban batter Yordan Álvarez inscribed his name in the record book of the Major Leagues

July 26, 2019

The young designated hitter for the Houston Astros, Cuban Yordan Álvarez, has already inscribed his name in the Major Leagues record book by reaching 35 runs batted in during his first 30 games played in the major leagues.

Álvarez hit a home run and drove in a pair of runs during the game that last night the Astros won by a landslide 11-1 over the Oakland Athletics and reached 35 RBIs in what was his thirtieth game in the Major Leagues, something that no one before had been able to achieve since 1920 when the official record of that statistic was established.

At just 22 years old, Álvarez surpassed Dominican Albert Pujols, who had 34 runs batted in during his first 30 games with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001.

"I felt very happy and very grateful for the record, something that I just found out about when I got to the clubhouse," said Álvarez, who has reached 11 home runs so far this season.

The young Cuban slugger admitted that it was an even greater honor to have been able to break the record of a ballplayer with a trajectory like Pujols'.

"Especially comparing myself to Pujols, it is an honor and a privilege," Álvarez emphasized. "When we were in Anaheim, I spoke with him, and he gave me a lot of advice, a lot of information to help me."

The left-handed Cuban batter is batting .342 with 11 home runs and 35 runs batted in since he made his Major Leagues debut with the Astros last June 9.

At that time, he was coming off having played in the Pacific Coast League, where he had 23 home runs and 71 runs batted in 56 games.

The Astros general manager, Mexican American Jeff Luhnow, was the first to praise Álvarez through Twitter, and also highlighted the memorable night of Cuban batting after the three Caribbean players on the team hit home runs each.

"Cuban power!!! Yordan, Yuli, Aledmys!" wrote Luhnov referring to the home runs that were also hit by his countrymen Aledmys Díaz and Yuli Gurriel.

That had only happened once before in Major Leagues history when José Abreu, Alexei Ramírez, and Dayan Viciedo homered for the White Sox in 2014.