Major League Baseball

MLB Team of the Week: Yordan Alvarez leads the surging Astros

Updated Sep. 21, 2022 3:31 p.m. ET

By Ben Verlander
FOX Sports MLB Analyst

The Houston Astros have officially clinched a playoff spot.

They are the first team in the American League to do so and the second overall behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A big reason for the Astros' success this year has been the offensive output of left-handed slugger Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez was on a tear in the first half of the season and was leading many offensive categories for much of the year. It didn't last the whole season, however, as he struggled both at the plate and with injuries.

After hitting 30 home runs through July, Alvarez hit just one in August, when he put up a .234 average and spent time on the injured list due to a hand injury.

September has been a different story for the slugger, however. So far, Alvarez is batting .378 in the month with six home runs.

Welcome to my Team of the Week, where I go position by position choosing who played best this week. This week, the team is virtually captained by Alvarez, who led all of baseball by a wide margin with 32 total bases, leading to an OPS over 2.000. He hit six home runs in the week, including three in consecutive at-bats.

Houston Astros' Yordan Álvarez and Kyle Tucker lead off Ben's team of the week!

Ben Verlander picks his new team of the week, headlined by the Astros’ Yordan Álvarez and Kyle Tucker, Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez.

Watch "Flippin' Bats with Ben Verlander" on YouTube, or subscribe on podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts.

Let's check out the rest of the squad.

C: Thomas Nido - New York Mets

Nido was one of just three catchers to hit multiple home runs last week, and his 13 total bases led them all. He wound up hitting .600 on the week.

1B: Pete Alonso - New York Mets

Pete Alonso joined Albert Pujols as the only players to record at least 35 home runs and 25 doubles in three of their first four seasons. He added six RBIs to his NL-leading total.

2B: Gleyber Torres - New York Yankees

Gleyber led MLB second basemen with eight RBIs over the past week. He was also the only second baseman to have multiple steals (two) and at least five extra-base hits (five). On the week, he hit .391 with two home runs.

3B: Justin Turner - Los Angeles Dodgers

Turner was the only third baseman last week to hit at least .450 (.450) and have multiple home runs (two). It might not have started like a typical Turner season, but he's hitting .350 in the second half and added to it by hitting .450 with a 1.400 OPS last week.

SS: Willy Adames - Milwaukee Brewers

Adames entered the Brewers' record books last week. He hit his 30th home run of the season, which passed Robin Yount for most homers in a single season by a shortstop. Adames hit .444 on the week, which led all MLB shortstops, and his 1.639 OPS was over .500 points higher than the next-best OPS among SS in that span.

OF: Julio Rodriguez - Seattle Mariners

Julio Rodríguez has five home runs with a .447/.533/.895 slash line in his past 10 games, making him one of three AL players aged 21 or younger to do that along with Ted Williams (1939) and Al Kaline (1955-56). He's also one of just two outfielders to have an OPS over 1.500 (1.822) and hit multiple home runs (four).

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OF: Aaron Judge - New York Yankees

Judge continues to march toward history, and he did so this past week by hitting four home runs to take his total to 59. Judge now is just two away from tying Roger Maris' American League home run record and just one away from being the first player to hit 60 home runs in a season since Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa did it in 2001.

Related: Check our Aaron Judge home-run tracker

OF: Kyle Tucker - Houston Astros

Tucker's 24 total bases were second-most in MLB last week. He has been on a tear since the beginning of August, and this past week was no different. Tucker hit .345 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. I would say a few more nice things about him, but he tried to pull a fast one on me with a fantasy-football trade last week, so let's just move on.

DH: Yordan Alvarez - Houston Astros

SP: Brandon Woodruff - Milwaukee Brewers

It was a dominant week for Woodruff, whose 21 strikeouts were the most in MLB last week, with no other pitcher accumulating more than 15. He made two starts on the mound and won both while giving up three runs in 14 innings.

CP: Emmanuel Clase - Cleveland Guardians

Clase was one of three closers in MLB to record three saves last week and the only one to do so without giving up a run. Clase continues to be one of the most dominant closers in the game. The Guardians are playing great baseball, giving him plenty of chances to come through in the ninth inning, and he has been doing just that.

Ben Verlander is an MLB analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the "Flippin' Bats" podcast. Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @BenVerlander.