"He looks like Canelo Alvarez" - Twins star Joe Ryan sees uncanny resemblance between teammate’s younger self and Mexican superstar slugger

Starting pitcher Joe Ryan and plenty of his teammates were present on Monday, as insider Chris Rose headed to Target Field to have a chat with the Minnesota Twins stars.

Featuring in Rose's popular "Dugout Discussions" series on YouTube, Ryan and his colleagues tried their hand at identifying some of their teammates from photos of their childhood, during the "Baby Ballplayers" segment.

As Chris Rose brought up a picture of a very young Christian Vázquez, Joe Ryan humorously brought up how it appeared to be a picture of legendary Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez, instead.

"This is tough. I'm going to phone a friend, who is this?" Ryan said (Timestamp: 18:44). "It's Christian Vazquez? He looks like Canelo Alvarez, kind of a cinnamon ball." Joe Ryan said.

Both were born in 1990, Alvarez and Vazquez have enjoyed plenty of success in their respective sports.

Alvarez is a fan favorite in his home country of Mexico, and boasts a near-perfect professional boxing record with 63 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws in a total of 67 professional fights.

Vazquez, on the other hand, has spent more than ten years in the big leagues, playing for the Boston Red Sox, where he also won two World Series titles in 2018 and 2022.

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Joe Ryan is enjoying a career year in 2025

Boasting a 10-5 record, along with a 2.82 ERA and 137 total strikeouts, starting pitcher Joe Ryan is enjoying the finest season of his career so far. The ace of the Twins staff leads his team in ERA and strikeouts. Owing to his impressive performances in the first half of the campaign, Ryan earned his first All-Star selection.

Washington Nationals v Minnesota Twins - Source: Getty

However, the Twins have not managed to keep pace with the top teams, both in their division, the AL Central and also the wildcard. It appears they may miss out on the playoffs for the second year in a row.

As a result, Ryan has been linked to a potential trade to another team that is much better placed to compete in October. However, nothing concrete has been reported yet. The way he has played this season, Twins fans will be hoping to keep hold of Joe Ryan for many years to come.

Edited by Alvin Amansec