HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez is the American League Most Valuable Player, and nobody who cast a ballot thought otherwise. The Houston Astros designated hitter was named on Thursday as the top choice of all 30 voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, finishing with 420 points.
Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero placed second with 267 points, and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was third with 188. The BBWAA said those three were the only players listed on every ballot. Caminero’s finish is the best ever by a Rays player in the voting, the writers group noted.
Alvarez, 29, is the first MVP of his career and just the third in franchise history. Jeff Bagwell won the National League award for Houston in 1994, and Jose Altuve took the American League honor in 2017. Alvarez is also only the second full-time designated hitter to win, following Shohei Ohtani, and the BBWAA counted this as the 14th unanimous result in American League history.
His case rested on a bounce-back season. After injuries held him to 48 games in 2025, Alvarez stayed healthy and won the league batting title at .316, while topping the league in on-base percentage at .432 and slugging at .601. He set personal bests with 42 home runs and 106 runs batted in and drew 109 walks.
He made a late push at the Triple Crown before a quiet August, when he hit only two home runs, slowed him down. The race also opened up because Aaron Judge, who had taken the award three times in the prior four years, was limited to 66 games by injuries.
The award capped a busy week in Las Vegas for Alvarez, who earlier picked up three other trophies: the Hank Aaron Award as the top hitter in his league, the best designated hitter prize named for Edgar Martinez, and Comeback Player of the Year. Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was also a unanimous choice for National League MVP.
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