Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez hit his 192nd career home run Saturday and Jose Altuve connected on his 240th as a second baseman, with both milestones landing in a single 13-2 blowout of the Athletics at Daikin Park. Alvarez’s grand slam, the team’s first of the season and the fifth of his career, moved him past former third baseman Alex Bregman into sixth place on the franchise’s all-time home run list. Altuve’s solo shot passed Detroit Tigers legend Lou Whitaker for seventh all-time among MLB second basemen.
Alvarez Climbs to Sixth in Franchise History
Alvarez entered Saturday as the AL leader in both home runs and RBIs, carrying a season slash of .316/.430/.654. He went 1-for-3, drew a walk, and scored twice in what became Houston’s highest run-scoring game since an 18-1 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers last July 4th.
The 192nd homer as an Astro moves past one specific name on the all-time list: Bregman’s. Alex Bregman spent his entire career in Houston before signing with the Boston Red Sox in free agency after the 2024 season and is now with the Chicago Cubs. Alvarez passed him in June of his age-28 season.
Next on the franchise list is Jim Wynn, “The Toy Cannon,” who accumulated 223 home runs for Houston between 1963 and 1973. That figure has sat in the record books for more than five decades, and Alvarez needs 31 more to reach it. The Astros-Athletics matchup had looked very different nine months earlier, when Oakland shut out Houston 6-0 in Sacramento and both Alvarez and Altuve went hitless as part of a five-game losing streak that damaged Houston’s 2025 playoff standing.
Above Wynn on the franchise list: Craig Biggio with 291 home runs, Lance Berkman with 326, and franchise leader Jeff Bagwell with 449. Bagwell and Biggio are both in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Houston third baseman Isaac Paredes hit his 100th career home run earlier in the same week. Alvarez is 28 years old, has played in all but one game in 2026 after missing more than 100 games the year before due to injury, and carries a career 162-game average of 42 home runs.
Altuve’s New Place in Second-Base History
Altuve’s home run Saturday was his fourth of 2026. He is batting .246 on the season. The count he passed Saturday is position-specific: only at-bats logged while Altuve is the listed second baseman apply toward the record. DH appearances and pinch-hit slots do not.
Lou Whitaker played 19 seasons alongside Alan Trammell in Detroit, won five All-Star selections and three Gold Gloves, and took home the 1978 AL Rookie of the Year Award. His career WAR of 75.1 places him, per a Bleacher Report ranking of the 25 greatest modern second basemen, among the strongest Cooperstown cases for any player not yet inducted. His position-specific total of 239 home runs at second base had stood as the seventh-best mark since his 1995 retirement. Altuve tied that figure in a late-May game against the Texas Rangers before surpassing it Saturday.
The players ahead of Altuve in the second-baseman ranking include Rogers Hornsby, Joe Morgan (who spent his early career with the Astros), and Ryne Sandberg. Jeff Kent holds the all-time record at 354 home runs at the position and is set to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Altuve’s Baseball Reference career page lists 259 total career home runs, all accumulated with Houston, with the position-specific 240 as a subset of that figure.
He signed with the Astros as an amateur free agent in 2007 and made his major league debut in July 2011. The longest-tenured current member of the organization, he is the only active Astros player who was with the club when it competed in the National League before the franchise’s 2013 move to the AL West. His credentials include seven Silver Slugger Awards (tied for the most ever at second base), the 2017 AL MVP, and two World Series rings. He is also one of four second basemen in MLB history to collect both 250 career home runs and 250 career steals, joining Craig Biggio, Joe Morgan, and Ryne Sandberg in that company. The contract he signed in 2025, five years at $125 million, runs through 2029. Four years remain.
The Record Books After Saturday
With Saturday’s games in the books, two active Houston players hold positions in separate all-time lists. Alvarez sits sixth in Astros franchise history. Altuve sits seventh all-time among second basemen in MLB.
The Astros franchise all-time home run leaders, as of June 6, 2026:
| Rank | Player | Astros Career HRs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Bagwell | 449 |
| 2 | Lance Berkman | 326 |
| 3 | Craig Biggio | 291 |
| 4 | Jose Altuve | 259 |
| 5 | Jim Wynn | 223 |
| 6 | Yordan Alvarez | 192 |
The second-baseman position HR leaders above Altuve, per MLB.com, include four names with Hall of Fame credentials:
- Jeff Kent – 354 (all-time leader at the position)
- Ryne Sandberg
- Joe Morgan
- Rogers Hornsby
Altuve’s 259 total career home runs, all with Houston, place him fourth in the franchise table above. His 240 position-specific HRs are a subset of that career figure, reflecting games in which he appeared as the listed second baseman rather than a DH or pinch hitter.
How Far Is the Top?
Alvarez’s Path to Bagwell
Jeff Bagwell’s 449 home runs as an Astro stretch across 15 seasons from 1991 through 2005. Alvarez needs 257 more to reach that total. At his career 162-game average of 42 home runs, the gap closes in roughly six full seasons, putting the record within reach sometime in his mid-30s assuming consistent availability.
The sourced context from Saturday’s game notes a lower bar also works: 25 or 26 home runs per year from now through age 38. His current production sits far above that floor. Health was the single largest variable in 2025, when he missed more than 100 games. His near-perfect attendance through early June in 2026 resets the projection.
Between Alvarez and Bagwell sit three more milestones: Wynn at 223, Biggio at 291, and Berkman at 326. At 22 home runs through early June, Alvarez is on a pace that could carry him past Wynn’s franchise mark before the season closes in October.
Altuve’s Contract and Kent’s Record
Jeff Kent played 17 seasons across multiple franchises, including a two-year stint with the Astros in 2003 and 2004, before retiring in 2008 with 354 home runs specifically at second base. He won the 2000 NL MVP Award with the San Francisco Giants and is set to enter the Hall of Fame. That position record has stood for nearly two decades. Altuve needs 114 more to match it.
Four contract years remain through 2029. Closing a 114-homer gap in that window requires roughly 28 or 29 home runs per season as a second baseman. Altuve is 36, batting .246 in 2026 with four home runs through early June. His best output came in the 2017-2019 stretch; the years left on his deal will arrive at ages 37 and 38. The math on Kent’s record requires a return to those levels.
He currently ranks 16th all-time in innings played at second base, behind Craig Biggio. Four more seasons in the position will move that ranking higher regardless of the home run trajectory.
The AL MVP Picture
After Saturday’s win, the manager spoke about what Alvarez brings to the Astros’ offensive performance:
In big moments, he rises to the occasion and just finds a way to boost our club. Just a really good hitter. But we had a ton of really good at-bats and a lot of people contributed to our win today.
Joe Espada, Houston’s manager, said after the game at Daikin Park.
Alvarez’s 2026 season through Saturday:
- 22 home runs (AL leader)
- 48 RBIs (AL leader)
- .316 batting average
- .654 slugging percentage
In the second expert MVP poll of the 2026 season, a survey of 35 MLB.com writers and analysts, Alvarez edged Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees as the AL front-runner. That poll was compiled before Saturday’s grand slam.
The Yankees announced Judge suffered a stress fracture in his right first rib cage in a game at Houston in April and would be re-evaluated in four to six weeks before any return timeline is set. His absence removes the most direct AL competition from the field for a significant stretch of the summer.
Alvarez entered June with the AL lead in home runs and RBIs, his franchise ranking just updated, and five names still above him on the list he has been climbing since his 2019 debut.
