Alvarez smacks second career grand slam

Astros No. 3 prospect leads PCL with seven homers for Express

Yordan Alvarez has amassed 40 home runs across his first four professional seasons. (Jim Redman/MiLB.com)

By Jordan Wolf

April 16, 2019

Yordan Alvarez entered Tuesday as the Pacific Coast League's home run leader, but one thing had escaped him -- a grand slam.Houston's No. 3 prospect remedied that oversight via a towering long ball with the bases loaded in the first inning of Triple-A Round Rock's 11-2 rout of Nashville at

Yordan Alvarez entered Tuesday as the Pacific Coast League's home run leader, but one thing had escaped him -- a grand slam.
Houston's No. 3 prospect remedied that oversight via a towering long ball with the bases loaded in the first inning of Triple-A Round Rock's 11-2 rout of Nashville at First Tennessee Park. It marked his first grand slam since last Aug. 4.

After Astros No. 16 prospect Myles Straw, Derek Fisher and Taylor Jones singled to open the game, Alvarez turned on the first pitch he saw from southpaw Wes Benjamin and sent it out to the lawn seats in left-center field. The 21-year-old went 0-for-2 against Benjamin last Thursday in an 8-6 win over the Sounds.
MLB.com's No. 41 overall prospect sits at seven homers on the year, two ahead of a five-way tie for second place in the Pacific Coast League that includes teammate Fisher. While the slam was his only hit of the night, but he also moved atop the PCL leaderboard in RBIs with 17 after knocking in a run on a groundout in the eighth.
Gameday box score
Last season, Alvarez belted 20 homers across two levels. He had 12 at Double-A Corpus Christi while compiling a slash line of .325/.389/.615, prompting a promotion to Triple-A Fresno, where he added eight long balls and batted .259/.349/.452.
Alvarez was acquired by the Astros before he had even played a professional game, coming over from the Dodgers in exchange for reliever Josh Fields. He originally signed for $2 million out of Cuba in June 2016. In his first full professional season, he belted 12 long balls and put together a line of .304/.379/.481 across two levels.

Round Rock right-hander Brady Rodgers (1-0) allowed two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out four over seven frames. Tanner Duncan followed that up with two hitless innings, walking one and striking out two.
For Nashville, Matt Davidson sent a solo shot out to left in the seventh in his third straight game with a long ball. The 2013 Futures Game Home Run Derby winner leads the Sounds with four dingers this year.

Jordan Wolf is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @byjordanwolf.