Yordan Alvarez vs Yusei Kikuchi

The Almanac's Take

Alvarez is mashing at a 1.079 OPS with 21 home runs in 61 games, but the platoon edge flips here — lefty-on-lefty removes his conventional advantage against Kikuchi. That said, Kikuchi's season line is genuinely rough: 5.81 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and a 4.1 BB/9 in just 31 innings. The head-to-head is a small 31-PA sample and should be treated as color, not signal — though Alvarez has hit .355 with 4 home runs and a 95.7 mph average exit velocity in those meetings, which at minimum suggests he's comfortable with Kikuchi's slider-fastball split (87% of his pitch mix combined).

Career head-to-head

AVG

.355

11-for-31

PA

31

HR

4

K

7

BB

0

Pitches seen

115

Avg exit velo

95.7 mph

Career meetings in the Statcast era (2015–present). Even a clear edge over a handful of plate appearances is a small sample — read it as color, not a projection.

Pitch mix to the batter

Plate-appearance log

• 2026-03-27Home Run · Slider 85.1 mph · 104.9 mph EV
• 2026-03-27Field Out · Slider 88.1 mph · 113.0 mph EV
• 2026-03-27Field Out · Slider 86.2 mph · 87.9 mph EV
• 2025-09-01Single · Slider 83.3 mph · 88.0 mph EV
• 2025-09-01Strikeout · Slider 87.1 mph
• 2025-09-01Field Out · Slider 85.1 mph · 102.9 mph EV
• 2024-07-03Home Run · 4-Seam Fastball 95.1 mph · 109.6 mph EV
• 2024-07-03Double · 4-Seam Fastball 98.5 mph · 111.4 mph EV
• 2024-07-03Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 97.2 mph · 61.4 mph EV
• 2022-04-29Single · Slider 87.7 mph · 90.1 mph EV
• 2022-04-29Strikeout · Slider 88.0 mph
• 2022-04-24Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 95.2 mph · 99.4 mph EV
• 2022-04-24Strikeout · 4-Seam Fastball 95.8 mph
• 2021-09-06Double · Slider 90.6 mph · 113.2 mph EV
• 2021-09-06Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 95.4 mph · 78.7 mph EV
• 2021-08-31Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 95.2 mph · 77.7 mph EV
• 2021-08-31Field Out · Cutter 92.6 mph · 95.6 mph EV
• 2021-08-31Field Out · Cutter 91.3 mph · 101.7 mph EV
• 2021-08-20Home Run · Slider 80.4 mph · 110.6 mph EV
• 2021-08-20Field Out · Slider 82.4 mph · 92.5 mph EV
• 2021-07-28Field Out · Slider 80.5 mph · 88.4 mph EV
• 2021-07-28Strikeout · Slider 82.3 mph
• 2021-07-28Strikeout · Slider 84.3 mph
• 2019-09-25Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 94.5 mph · 95.8 mph EV
• 2019-09-25Strikeout · Slider 84.2 mph
• 2019-09-25Double · Slider 86.0 mph · 96.0 mph EV
• 2019-09-07Single · Slider 85.6 mph · 72.9 mph EV
• 2019-09-07Strikeout · 4-Seam Fastball 92.9 mph
• 2019-09-07Field Out · Slider 85.5 mph · 90.3 mph EV
• 2019-08-02Single · 4-Seam Fastball 91.5 mph · 105.6 mph EV
• 2019-08-02Home Run · Slider 86.8 mph · 108.1 mph EV