It was supposed to be a huge awards season for Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, and he ended up being arguably the biggest winner of the night at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

Alvarez was one of the best players in the sport in 2026, and finally showed what his true potential can bring over the course of an entire regular season. Houston wouldn't have gotten close to the postseason had it not been for Alvarez's heroic efforts.

The 6-foot-4, 237-pound slugger, widely known as one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, racked up four different awards and made franchise history along the way.

Yordan's Incredible Year

Alvarez was the American League Hank Aaron Award winner for the first time, given to the best offensive performer of the season in the league. He dethroned repeat winner Aaron Judge. Alvarez is the second Astros player to win this award, with the only other being Jose Altuve in 2017.

Alvarez led MLB in average at .316 and won his first batting title. He also led baseball in OPS (1.033), OBP (.432) SLG (.601), walks (109), extra base hits (77) and total bases (341). Alvarez hit 42 homers and had 106 RBI in 2026, both of which were new career highs and good for second in the AL.

He also drew 33 intentional walks, which was by far the most in baseball and broke Jeff Bagwell's franchise record of 27. Alvarez was just three away from the all-time record of 36 set by Judge in 2025.

The Las Tunas, Cuba native became the third player since 1970 to win the AL batting title while hitting at least 40 home runs, joining Judge in 2025 and Miguel Cabrera in 2012-13. This was the first time Alvarez crossed 40 homers in a season after he played a career-high 158 games.

As a result, Alvarez was also named the 2026 Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award for the first time. He's the first Astros player to ever win this award and ended Shohei Ohtani's streak of five straight wins. Alvarez is the first DH not named Ohtani to win the award since 2020.

In terms of advanced numbers, the four-time All-Star led baseball in offensive WAR (7.2) and had a 181 WRC+, which was also the highest in the sport. That means Alvarez was producing runs at an 81 percent higher rate than the average player. He was the only hitter to have an OPS over 1.000.

He was also on pace for the AL and MLB Triple Crown over a large part of the season.

Alvarez was named to the All-MLB First Team at DH. This was his second honor as a First Team selection and made him the first player to earn an All-MLB spot in six seasons. Ohtani has eight selections which is the most, but earned them over five seasons with three honors as a starting pitcher. Alvarez now has the second most All-MLB selections.

After a 2025 season where Alvarez only played 48 games total due to a right-hand fracture and also had a left ankle sprain in September, he returned in dominant fashion in 2026. Alvarez won the AL Comeback Player of the Year.

He's the second Astros player to win the award as Justin Verlander did it in 2022. Alvarez is now set to win his first MVP award as well.