For those looking at simulations to provide daily baseball statistics, one model is projecting Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez to be putting up historic numbers thus far.
Without the real teams playing games or players accumulating statistics, we have turned to simulations like Out Of The Park Baseball 21 to give us our daily fix. After looking through the simulated season totals up to this point, the numbers on Houston Astros outfielder Yordan Alvarez stand out. He’s the second coming of Hack Wilson.
You remember Hack Wilson and his 1930 season when he drove in a record 191 runs. Through 23 games of a simulated season, Alvarez has 36 runs batted in. If Alvarez were to play every game he’d be on pace to drive in over 250 runs on the year.
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Alvarez has driven in twelve more runs than the next highest player. Driving in runs isn’t the only thing Air Yordan is doing, he’s hitting .347 with an OPS of 1.162, and leading the league in total bases.
The real Alvarez got off to a hot start as well after his callup to the majors last year (proceeded by a hot start to the minor league season). All told, in 143 games between the minors and majors, he drove in 149 runs.
Alvarez hit .313 with 27 home runs en route to winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award. He had a propensity to strike out often both in the regular season and the postseason. His power numbers dropped off in the playoffs hitting just one home run in 58 at-bats.
According to the simulation, there will not be a sophomore slump for Alvarez. Where his knees cause him problems in real life, the simulated version seems to be getting along just fine.
As the simulated season keeps on, it will be interesting to see if Alvarez can keep driving in runs at a historic pace. It will also be interesting to see if Alvarez can provide an offensive spark if the Astros make the postseason.
Follow along with Yordan Alvarez’s simulated season here.