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Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, who defected from his native Cuba in order to live out his big league dreams in the United States, is getting to play in front of his family who is seeing him in a professional ballgame for the first time.
Alvarez's family members arrived in Houston last Friday.
The family members in attendance are Yordan's mother Marilyn Cardogan Reyes; his father Auguistin Eduardo Alvarez Salazar; and his brother Yonder Alvarez Cadogan.
According to the team, Yordan originally defected from Cuba in 2016 and established residence in Haiti. While there, he signed with the Dodgers organization as an international free agent on June 15, 2016.
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On Aug. 1 of that year, before playing in a professional game, he was traded to the Astros in exchange for RHP Josh Fields. Alvarez made his MLB debut for the Astros in June of 2019, and went on to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors that season.
Yordan earned his first All-Star selection in 2022 and is among the AL leaders in home runs, runs batted in and on-base plus slugging, or OPS.
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