HOUSTON — Who exactly is Houston Astros star Yordan Alvarez?
The Cuban-born outfielder and designated hitter was born on June 27, 1997, in Las Tunas, which is a small town in the eastern half of the country.
Alvarez began his baseball career in the Cuban National Series playing for his hometown Leñadores de Las Tunas (or in English, the Las Tunas Lumberjacks) at the age of 16.
After two seasons and 74 games for Las Tunas, Alvarez defected from Cuba and established himself in Haiti for a chance to play Major League Baseball.
Two weeks before his 19th birthday, Alvarez signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent. Fortunately for Houston, Alvarez spent less than two months in the Dodgers organization and never played a single game for them before he was acquired in a trade by the Astros for reliever Josh Fields.
Alvarez quickly burned through the Astros' minor-league system before making it to the majors as a non-roster invitee in 2019. He was called up in June later that season.
Then on Sept. 9, 2019, Alvarez became the first Astro to hit a home run in the third deck of Minute Maid Park. The blast of Oakland A's pitcher Paul Blackburn landed in section 337, row 1, seat 18, which the Astros commemorated with an orange seat.
Alvarez ended that season becoming the youngest Cuban-born player to ever hit a home run in a World Series game after taking Nationals starter Joe Ross deep in Game 5. He was 22 years and 122 days old, beating out Jose Canseco who previously held the mark.
Alvarez was unanimously named the AL Rookie of the Year in 2019.
During the Astros' 2021 postseason run, Alvarez was named the American League Championship Series MVP for his performance against the Boston Red Sox.
During the 2022 season, Alvarez got to experience some special guests cheering for him for the first time.
Fresh after arriving from Cuba, his father, Agustín Eduardo Álvarez Salazar, teary-eyed mother Mailyn Cadogan Reyes and brother Yonder Alvarez Cadogan each proudly wore an Alvarez jersey as they gazed wide-eyed at the field, watching the star play professionally for the first time.
“This is one of my biggest moments in my entire life,” his father told The Associated Press in Spanish through a translator. “And I could be able to say so many words, but the truth is that there are no words to express what I’m feeling right now.”
Alvarez's legend continued to start the 2022 postseason, capping off an incredible comeback in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners. Facing starter Robbie Ray, Alvarez clobbered a 3-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Houston was 0-48 in playoff history when losing after eight innings before Alvarez sent Seattle home asking, "Who's Yor-daddy?"