Houston Astros Rookie Yordan Alvarez Makes MLB RBI History

He may be a rookie, but Yordan Alvarez is already making Major League Baseball history…

The 22-year-old Cuban professional baseball first baseman and outfielder for the Houston Astros homered and knocked in a pair of runs on Monday in an 11-1 winover the Oakland A’s, making him the first player to have 35 RBIs in his first 30 career games since runs batted in became an official statistic in 1920.

Yordan Alvarez

Alvarez has surpassed Albert Pujols, who had 34 RBIs in his first 30 games with the St. Louis Cardinalsin 2001.

“I was very happy and very grateful [about the record], something I just found out about when I got here to the clubhouse,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.

“Especially with [Pujols], it’s an honor and a privilege. When we were in Anaheim, I spoke with him, and he gave me a lot of advice, a lot of information to help me out.”

The left-handed slugger is hitting .342 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs since he made his MLB debut with the Astros on June 9. 

At the time, he was tearing up the Pacific Coast League, with 23 home runs and 71 RBIs in 56 games.

Alvarez was one of three Cuban-born Astros players — along with Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Diaz— to homer in the 11-1 trouncing of the A’s on Monday. That had happened only once before in MLB history, when Jose AbreuAlexei Ramírez and Dayan Viciedoall homered for the Chicago White Sox in 2014.

Ramirez Signs with the Tampa Bay Rays

There’s a Rays of light for Alexei Ramirez

The Tampa Bay Rays signed the 34-year-old Cuban veteran shortstop before the team’s Thursday night 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees.

Alexei Ramirez

Ramirez, who was released by the San Diego Padres on Sunday after losing his job as the team’s starting shortstop, entered the game in the bottom of the second as a defensive replacement for shortstop Brad Miller. He went 1-for-3.

Ramirez, who turns 35 on September 22, hit .240 with five homers and 41 RBIs in 128 games with San Diego. He started 109 games at shortstop, three in right field and one at designated hitter.

Padres manager Andy Green said Ramirez “didn’t have the range at shortstop anymore that we need” after Ramirez was released.

Ramirez, a 2014 All-Star, signed with the Chicago White Sox out of Cuba before the 2008 season and hit .273 with 109 home runs in eight years with Chicago.

He signed as a free agent with San Diego in January, agreeing to a deal that included a $3 million salary this year and a 2017 mutual option with a $1 million buyout.

Tampa Bay pays $69,331 for the rest of the season, a prorated share of the big league minimum that offsets a portion of what the Padres owe.