Yordan Alvarez is the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
The Houston Astros‘ dominant slugger also has a chance to set an AL all-time record in the process.
Alvarez has a chance to be intentionally walked more times in a single season than anyone else in American League history.
The irony, of course, is that intentional walks are only partially controlled by the hitter. He has to be good enough to subconsciously suggest it as an idea to the opposing team, and then the game state has to be a logical spot to do it.
But it certainly shows some hitters who have had the most respect in the history of the sport when they step into the batter’s box.
Yordan Alvarez Intentional Walks
Alvarez was intentionally walked on Thursday by the Chicago White Sox.
It was his 30th intentional walk of the season.
These days, intentional walks are particularly anti-climactic. You don’t even have to throw four pitches to a catcher standing up outside the strike zone.
The manager holds up four fingers, and down to first goes Alvarez, without even stepping into the box.
AL Intentional Walks Record
The Athletic’s Chandler Rome shared on X that Alvarez is the sixth player in American League history to have at least 30 intentional walks in one season.
The club also includes 1957 Ted Williams, 1985 George Brett, 1993 John Olerud, 2010 Miguel Cabrera and 2025 Aaron Judge.
Judge is the current record holder. He was walked intentionally 36 times during his MVP season in 2025.
Williams held the mark for a long time. He was intentionally walked 33 times in 1957.
Olerud matched that with 33 intentional walks of his own in 1993.
When Cabrera joined the club in 2010, he ended with 32 intentional walks.
The smooth-swinging Brett was sent to first intentionally 31 times in 1985.
With almost a whole month to play, Alvarez has at least a chance to keep climbing up this chart.
All-Time Intentional Walks MLB Record
Alvarez will not be setting the major league single-season record for intentional walks. Odds are, no one ever will break the current mark.
That’s because prime Barry Bonds essentially took this stat and made it something he did so much more than anyone ever had.
Bonds was intentionally walked an astonishing 120 times in 2004.
Bonds also had a season with 68 intentional walks, and another with 61. As far back as 1993, he was intentionally walked 43 times.
He also had two more seasons with more intentional walks than anyone in AL history — a year with 43 and another with 38.
Bonds led the National League in intentional walks in 12 different seasons. He finished with 688 in his career, a record that almost certainly will never be broken unless the entire structure of baseball changes considerably — and the odds are that the game won’t be changing anytime soon to a structure that encourages more intentional walks.
So yeah, Alvarez’s best pursuit is an American League record. The MLB record in this particular statistical category will always be out of reach.
Astros’ Yordan Alvarez Chasing All-Time AL Record