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Houston Astros Isaac Paredes, right, gets high-five from Jose Altuve after hitting a solo home run off Athletics starting pitcher Jack Perkins during the first inning of an MLB baseball game at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Just once in American League history has a hitter accrued more intentional walks in a season than Yordan Alvarez did this year.<\/a> Last season, the Yankees\u2019 Aaron Judge recorded 36 in a campaign that garnered him the AL Most Valuable Player award.<\/p>\n Alvarez, the Houston Astros<\/a> slugger and present AL MVP frontrunner, drew 33 intentional walks this year. Twenty-six of them occurred with Isaac Paredes batting behind him. Each essentially told Paredes that an opponent would rather face him.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, I felt bad,\u201d Paredes said through an interpreter. \u201cI felt like they were kind of disrespecting me as a hitter. But as the season went on, I stopped taking it personal. Because Yordan is truly the greatest hitter right now in baseball, so there was no reason for me to take it as a lack of respect towards myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n WHO HAS THE EDGE?Astros vs. White Sox matchups, prediction<\/a><\/p>\n By many measures, Alvarez was the most dangerous hitter in the sport this season. He led all qualified hitters in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging, had a 1.033 OPS that was 91 points higher than the next-closest mark and finished second in the AL in home runs and RBIs.<\/p>\n Alvarez is certainly the Astros\u2019 most dangerous hitter as they embark on a playoff run starting in Game 1 of a wild-card series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday at Daikin Park. For that reason, however, one could argue Paredes is their most important entering this postseason.<\/p>\n His gaudy intentional walk total, which contributed to a majors-leading 109 overall walks, reflected the caution opposing pitchers practiced toward Alvarez. That might only become magnified in the playoffs, when one mistake can have major ramifications in a short series with high stakes.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n