Isaac Paredes could be the Houston Astros' most important hitter vs. Chicago White Sox. Here's why
· Yahoo Sports
Just once in American League history has a hitter accrued more intentional walks in a season than Yordan Alvarez did this year. Last season, the Yankees' Aaron Judge recorded 36 in a campaign that garnered him the AL Most Valuable Player award.
Alvarez, the Houston Astros slugger and present AL MVP frontrunner, drew 33 intentional walks this year. Twenty-six of them occurred with Isaac Paredes batting behind him. Each essentially told Paredes that an opponent would rather face him.
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"At first, I felt bad," Paredes said through an interpreter. "I felt like they were kind of disrespecting me as a hitter. But as the season went on, I stopped taking it personal. Because Yordan is truly the greatest hitter right now in baseball, so there was no reason for me to take it as a lack of respect towards myself."
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By many measures, Alvarez was the most dangerous hitter in the sport this season. He led all qualified hitters in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging, had a 1.033 OPS that was 91 points higher than the next-closest mark and finished second in the AL in home runs and RBIs.
Alvarez is certainly the Astros' most dangerous hitter as they embark on a playoff run starting in Game 1 of a wild-card series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday at Daikin Park. For that reason, however, one could argue Paredes is their most important entering this postseason.
His gaudy intentional walk total, which contributed to a majors-leading 109 overall walks, reflected the caution opposing pitchers practiced toward Alvarez. That might only become magnified in the playoffs, when one mistake can have major ramifications in a short series with high stakes.
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If the White Sox - and other teams should Houston advance - opt to pitch around Alvarez, it will fall to hitters behind him to capitalize. Paredes, who has batted after Alvarez in every game that both started since June 24, would draw the first opportunity, amplifying his at-bats.
"Just remain calm," Paredes said of approaching such situations. "Make the adjustment that I need and just be prepared to be able to protect Yordan as much as I can."
Though overshadowed by Alvarez's output, Paredes authored his own highly productive season. Despite a slow start, the third baseman finished with a 127 OPS-plus that ranked second among Houston hitters, 25 home runs and 94 RBIs, which tied for sixth-most in the American League.
Paredes led Houston with 187 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position, not surprising given his regularly batting third after Jeremy Peña and Alvarez. He batted .293 in such situations with a 10.7% walk rate and a 12.3% strikeout rate. League-wide average in those situations was .252.
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On an Astros offense with the majors' 11th-highest swing rate and sixth-highest chase rate, per Baseball Savant, Paredes averaged the most pitches per plate appearance among qualified major-league hitters. He also led the majors in two-out RBIs, with nearly half his total (46) coming with two outs.
All those traits could prove critical if Alvarez is given limited chances to do damage. Alvarez saw only 40.3% of pitches in the strike zone in September, per Baseball Savant, his lowest rate in a month this season. He had a .432 on-base percentage and 15 walks in those 22 games.
Peña, after a prolonged slump, hit .353 across his final 12 games of the season. Between them, the result could be frequent traffic on the basepaths for Paredes, whose 45 RBIs after the All-Star break trailed only Pete Alonso, who led the league in RBIs, among AL players.
In the playoffs, when each run feels magnified, Paredes projects as critical for the Astros. Saturday, he fouled a ball off his left knee, leaving some question Sunday about his defensive availability. He did start that game at third base, though, and said the knee felt "great" on Monday's off-day.
"Yesterday it was very sore, and I played with whatever percentage I was able to play," Paredes said. "But I feel like today it feels great, and I'll be able to go out there and feel great about it."
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There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Isaac Paredes could be the Houston Astros' most important hitter vs. Chicago White Sox. Here's why.