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Pulling and speed will be the new trends in Major League Baseball next season.
If those rules had been in place 15 years ago, Jason Giambi and David Ortiz would still be playing.
Larger bases, pitch clocks and shift limits have changed the way baseball is bet and watched.
In spring training, stolen base attempts were up 65 percent from last year, and hit rates were up eight percent as well.
Teams will run a lot more, and defensive rotations won’t hold those powerful, left-handed bats hostage.
With that, we take a look at a power hitter who has been a thorn in the side of the Yankees for a few years now.
Yordan Alvarez Most RBI in MLB (+1000, PointsBet)
The only thing holding anyone back from a Yordan Alvarez MVP bet is the legendary sensation Shohei Ohtani.
Part of this gamble is about choice. Another is about the rule change effect.
Alvarez changed in 88.3 percent of his plate appearances last season, eighth in MLB history.
He had 27 strikeouts due to the shift, fourth in all of baseball according to Baseball Savante (hard-hit balls snapped or second baseman in the shift).
Yordan AlvarezGetty Images
As for the prospect, Alvarez is projected by FantasyPros and Fangraphs to have the fourth and fifth most RBIs in MLB this season, which is likely the reason for these current odds.
But diving into their projections, FantasyPros and Fangraphs expect Alvarez to hit 507 and 514 at-bats, respectively.
That’s because of a nagging hand injury he suffered in spring training. He recovered from last week and is back in the starting line-up full time.
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With those projections out of date, we can now project Alvarez at 540 at bat, still a light projection given the absence of project model injuries.
Then we can safely project his RBI numbers, using Fangraphs’ model, at 109.2, ahead of current favorites Aaron Judge (+700) and Pete Alonso (+750) at PointsBet.
Return to Alvarez this season as a multi-time MVP player in the American League starting next year – when Mets owner Steve Cohen brings Ohtani to the National League.