Jake Balek

Jake Balek

Sport Data Analyst

2023 AL Divisional Series MVP

1 minute read

Published:

The player of the week in the ALDS was Yordan Alvarez slugging at a historic rate. The Alvarez-Abreu punch in the Astros lineup proved to be too much for the Twins as either player could’ve been named the Player of the Week. However, Yordan is slugging at an all-time high percentage through the first series, and it is going to be very interesting to see if he can keep it up. His SLG % sits at 1.313 through 4 games in the 2023 playoffs after accumulating 4 home runs and 2 doubles along with a single in only 16 official at-bats.

Illustration of Yordan Alvarez
Image courtesy of MLB.com

This image displays Alvarez blasting another deep ball with an unamused face as he’s been there before.

Spray Chart Action

Illustration of Yordan Alvarez's 2023 Regular Season Spray Chart
Illustration was created in R Studio using the baseballr package.

This chart shows the spray of each base hit that Alvarez had during the entire regular season. It is a great vision of what may be to come the rest of the playoffs, but overall, he hits the ball to all areas of the field making it hard to predict where he may hit the next one.

Illustration of Yordan Alvarez's 2023 ALDS Spray Chart
Illustration was created in R Studio using the baseballr package.

This chart shows the spray of each ball put that Alvarez into play during the division series. This aligns with the regular season spray chart, and nothing looks out of the ordinary meaning he has been able to do a great job keeping the same approach.

Strike Zone & Batted Ball Display

Illustration of Yordan Alvarez's 2023 ALDS Batted Ball & Strike Zone Display Chart
Illustration was created in R Studio using custom ggplot2 measurements.

This chart shows each pitch that Alvarez put into play during the ALDS and what pitch it was. He has been able to keep a pretty tight strike zone and only contact pitches he can do damage with rather than letting the pitcher dictate what he hits.

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