Express' Alvarez headed to The Show

The Minor Leagues' home run leader is headed to The Show.
Third-ranked Astros prospectYordan Alvarez will join the big club ahead of Sunday's game against the Orioles, as first reported by Jake Kaplan of The Athletic. Through 56 games with Triple-A Round Rock, the 21-year-old clobbered a Minors-best 23 homers.

Alvarez was scratched from the Express lineup before Saturday's game in Salt Lake City. On Friday, he sent the first pitch he saw in the ninth inning from Salt Lake right-hander Luke Bard over the fence in left center field for his third homer in five games.
In addition to leading the Minors in long balls, MLB.com's No. 23 overall prospect sits atop all levels with 71 RBIs and 158 total bases. He's batting .343/.443/.742.

Last season, Alvarez put together a .325/.389/.615 slash line with Double-A Corpus Christi, hitting 12 homers and driving in 46 runs in 43 games. That earned a promotion to Round Rock, where he finished the year hitting .259/.349/.452 with eight homers and 28 RBIs in 45 contests.
The Cuba native signed with the Dodgers in July 2016 but was traded to the Astros less than a month later for right-hander Josh Fields. He debuted in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and hit .341/.474/.500 with one homer in 16 games. In 2017, his first full season as a professional, he batted .304/.379/.481 with 12 dingers and 69 RBIs in 90 games between Class A Quad Cities and Class A Advanced Buies Creek.