Round Rock OF Yordan Alvarez Named PCL Player of the Month

ROUND ROCK, Texas - As if there was ever any doubt, Round Rock Express OF Yordan Alvarez has officially been named the Uncle Ray's Pacific Coast League Player of the Month for April. Alvarez finished in a four-way tie for the most home runs in all of Minor League Baseball during the month with 11. He was also named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for April 29-May 5 on Monday afternoon.
In addition to his 11 homers, Alvarez led the Express with a scorching-hot .347 batting average after tallying a club-leading 26 hits in just 75 at-bats in 21 total games last month. The 21-year-old's six doubles, 20 runs scored, 29 RBI and 65 total bases in the month also led all E-Train hitters.
Alvarez re-wrote the Express history books during his season-opening hot stretch, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit double-digit home runs in April, as well as the first E-Train hitter to tally more than 10 longballs in a single calendar month since Will Middlebrooks hit 12 in June of 2017. Only two players in affiliated baseball tallied more home runs through the month of April than Alvarez, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger and the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich, who each needed 30 games to hit 14 dingers.
The Cuban is widely regarded as one of the top prospects in baseball and is currently tabbed as the third-best prospect in the Houston Astros organization, as well as the 41st-overall prospect in baseball, by MLB.com. He was originally acquired by Houston in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for RHP Josh Fields on August 1, 2016.
Alvarez is the first Express player to win a Pacific Coast League Player of the Month award since C J.R. House split the award with Portland Beavers OF Terrmel Sledge in August 2006, Round Rock's second season in the PCL. Alvarez was named a 2018 MiLB.com Organization All-Star as well as a two-time Sirius XM Futures Game Selection in 2017 and 2018. He also took home Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star honors with Class-A Quad Cities in 2017.
Fans can catch Alvarez and the rest of the Express in action when the team returns home on Saturday, May 11 to open a season-long 13-game homestand with a four-game set against the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate). First pitch in the series opener at Dell Diamond on May 11 is set for 7:05 p.m.
For more information on the Express, visit RRExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and join the conversation during our historic 20th season using #20STROng.