MLB All-Star Preview: Best Hitters of the First Half Revealed
Discover why Jordan Walker and Yordan Alvarez are the top hitters to watch in baseball as we head into the All-Star break. Don't miss this essential recap!
Video Transcript
I'll start off with the best hitter.
Now, Tom did take mine, so I had to come up with the second- best hitter, so just keep that in mind here.
I'm going Jordan Walker of the Cardinals.
And, you know, maybe it's the fantasy baseball player in me, Tom, I don't know, but maybe it is because somebody may say, "All right, well, look, Jo- going, his numbers are great."
Okay, let's not get it twisted.
887 OPS, 22 homers, 74 runs driven in.
But he's also stealing bases, Tom, you know?
Like, to me- adding on a 20 stolen base season to a 30 or 40 home run season, I think Walker's gonna be near the top in the National League at the end of the year.
He will be.
He deserves to.
It's also nice to see, you know, just where the player goes in his, you know, c- career arc of, like, struggling.
He was the top prospect as he s- you know, sent down, back up and down a million times for the Cardinals over the past years, but finally has seemingly found his footing, and that is good to see.
I'll turn to my best hitter for the first half of the season, and that's gonna be Yordan lvarez, and, you know, the MVP front runner, at least as of now in the AL.
And it's not just the, the 31 home runs, it's that he's hitting for average, right?
You know, we, we see players hit for average, we see players hit for home runs, and when you do both, I think that is something that is truly special.
You add in the RBIs.
His OPS is over 1000.
And the, the same question as it was for Yordan coming into the season.
Everyone says like, "Oh, he's just, if he stays healthy."
It's like, yeah, that's the only thing he needs to go in his favor, if he stays healthy.
But everything else will be there for him.
He's gonna hit for average.
He's gonna hit for power.
It's been an awesome season for him.
Yeah, and, your guy, Tom, is Yordan, and I, I, I think it's a really good choice.
He's the front runner for the American League MVP.
His competition is, like, Ben Rice at this point.
I mean, I don't think he's got it locked up, 'cause we got a long way to go.
No.
And Yordan's a big dude, and one hamstring all of a sudden and, and, you know, who knows?
I'm not rooting for that.
But even on this lackluster Houston team, Tom, I agree with you 100% right, right?
He's been the, uh- MVP of the league, right?
Yeah.
I, I think so at this point
