| Pedro Alvarez | |
|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 24 | |
| Third Baseman | |
| Born: February 6, 1987 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
|
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| June 16, 2010 for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Career statistics (through 2011) |
|
| Batting average | .230 |
| Home runs | 20 |
| Runs batted in | 83 |
| Runs | 60 |
| Teams | |
|
|
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s baseball | ||
| Competitor for United States | ||
| Pan American Games | ||
| Silver | 2007 Rio de Janeiro | Team |
| Baseball World Cup | ||
| Gold | 2009 Nettuno | Team |
| World University Baseball Championship | ||
| Gold | 2006 Havana | Team |
Pedro Manuel Alvarez Jr. (born February 6, 1987) is a Dominican-American professional baseball third baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.[1]
Alvarez was born in the Dominican Republic but grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan.[2] Alvarez has been nicknamed El Toro, Spanish for The Bull, because of his strength and athletic build.
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Alvarez first attended the Mott Hall School for gifted and talented students in Harlem, where he was an A student. He then attended Horace Mann School[2] in the Bronx, where he holds numerous baseball records, most notably home runs, batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and RBIs.[3] Alvarez was named Athlete of the Year his senior season. Though he attended a private school, Alvarez's abilities attracted the attention of scouts throughout the New York City area, especially after he led his club team, the Bayside Yankees, to a national title in 2005. In recognition of his success, Louisville Slugger crowned him the Player of the Year in New York and also named him to its All-America team.
After graduating from high school, Alvarez was drafted in the 14th round of the 2005 major league draft by the Boston Red Sox. Though offered a substantial signing bonus,[4] Alvarez instead chose to play college baseball for the SEC's Vanderbilt University. Alvarez started slowly and had some trouble adjusting to the college game. However, after growing comfortable, he became an integral member of the Commodore lineup. Alvarez put up some of the best offensive numbers in the history of Vanderbilt, setting single-season school records in home runs (22) and second in RBIs to Warner Jones. These stats earned Alvarez National Freshman of the Year honors from several publications, including Baseball America. Alvarez was then selected to the USA National team, leading the team in batting average. Baseball America ranked him as the 2nd best pro prospect on the squad. In addition, Sports Illustrated ranked him as the best pro prospect on the team and said that he was the "early favorite to be drafted first in 2008," due to his impressive performance over the summer and as a freshman.[5]
Before the 2007 season began Alvarez was named to the watchlist for the SEC and national player of the year awards. He was also chosen as a 1st team pre-season All-American. During the season, Alvarez had great success, hitting .397 with 17 home runs, 65 RBI, 72 runs, an on-base percentage of .467, and a slugging percentage of .706 for the 51-11 Commodores. His strong play was one of the key reasons Vanderbilt captured its first ever SEC regular-season championship. During the SEC Tournament, Alvarez powered Vanderbilt to a come-from-behind championship despite the team dropping the tournament's first game. No other team in SEC history had ever come back to win after losing its first game, and Alvarez was named Tournament MVP.
Alvarez was invited back to Team USA after his strong performance in 2006 and would prove to be a leader on the field. He led the team in homers, RBIs, batting average, hits, and slugging percentage.
Alvarez was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round (second overall) in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft. He agreed to a $6 million minor league contract with the Pirates on August 15, minutes before the deadline but did not immediately sign it.[6] He was placed on the restricted list after the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a grievance against Major League Baseball over draft picks being signed minutes after the August 15 deadline. On September 22, Alvarez agreed to renegotiated terms on a four-year major league contract at $6.4 million.
In 2009, he attended Spring Training with the Pirates, but was assigned to the minor league's spring training on March 16, 2009.[7] After playing several months with the Pirates High-A affiliate, Lynchburg Hillcats, Alvarez was assigned to Double-A Altoona Curve in late June. Alvarez performed extremely well between the two levels, leading the Pirates organization in home runs and RBIs with 27 and 95 respectively. He also batted .288 with an .917 OPS.[8]
Alvarez started the 2010 season with the Pirates Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, as the 8th-best prospect in Baseball America's 2010 rankings. In 66 games with the Indians, he hit .277 with 13 home runs, 53 RBI and 4 stolen bases.
Alvarez was called up to the MLB on June 16, 2010 and made his Major League debut against John Danks of the Chicago White Sox. He went 0-for-2 with a walk, a strikeout, and a run scored.
His first Major League hit came against the Cleveland Indians on June 19, 2010, an RBI double over the left-field wall off Indians starter David Huff. The following several weeks of his career did not go so smoothly, however. He struck out at least once in each of his first 10 games, capped off by a 4-strikeout game in a 14-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics on June 25, 2010. Pirates manager John Russell then gave him a day off.[9] His first Major League home run came against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 3, 2010, a solo shot to left field off of off Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick. Following his benching, Alvarez responded with an eight-game hitting streak from June 28-July 6 that included 2 home runs, 3 runs scored and 4 RBI.
Alvarez recorded his first career multi-homer game on July 20, 2010 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit a grand slam in the first inning off Brewers starter Dave Bush and then followed with a solo home run in the following inning. He finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs and five RBIs, helping the Pirates to an 11-9 win.[10] He hit two home runs again the next night against the Brewers, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs as part of a 15-3 Pirate victory. The home runs came against Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf and reliever Kameron Loe. After the game, Alvarez had raised his batting average over 60 points, from .197 on July 9 to .259. "Obviously, those first few weeks, it’s a million miles an hour, and as time goes on you get used to it a little bit more and more." said Alvarez of his early struggles. "It's very fun to go out there and play some good baseball and come out winning. It makes it that much better when you have a good day that you can celebrate with your teammates."[11][12]
On August 7, 2010 Pedro hit a walk-off 3 run home run against the Colorado Rockies closer Huston Street.[13]
Alvarez was named National League Player of the Week for September 20–26 for his performances. He finished the week 10-for-24 (.417) with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs.[14] Alvarez continued his hot streak, going 4-for-5 with 5 RBIs on September 30 against the Florida Marlins while raising his season batting average 8 points from .249 to .257.[15] Alvarez finished the season by winning the NL Rookie of the Month Award for September, hitting .311 and leading all Major League rookies with 26 RBIs in his final 27 games.[16]
Alvarez did not immediately continue his late 2010 performance, compiling a .208 batting average and a .587 OPS in 36 games. On May 21, 2011 Alvarez was placed on the 15-day disabled list. After being reinstated from the DL on July 9, 2011 he was optioned to the AAA Indianapolis Indians.