Is it safe to be excited about Pedro Alvarez yet?

by Sixty Feet, Six Inches on Jul 31, 2009 3:01 AM EDT

Since Pedro Alvarez's terrifyingly bad start at AA, he's come around quite well and is starting to do the things we need him to.

I've been reluctant to get too excited about Alvarez's increase in average because a good deal of it came from an increase in BABIP. But at this point, he's hitting .283/.339/.528 and looking good doing it.

Alvarez's walks are up and his strikeouts are down. He's dropped his K% from the disastrous 30% to a still bad but more palatable 25%. One would think that's going to come down more. Meanwhile, he's closing in with the old K/BB ratio, now at 3-1.

And, of course, he's still swinging a potent power bat as always.

Is it safe to be excited about him again?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editor (Charlie) or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.

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I think so. He has been making great improvements all month long. I think the best way to judge him is to compare large samples of what he is doing and monitoring the improvements and in the month of July he has been a monster.

If he keeps performing like this, with his strikeouts out doing and his walks going up, he had 5 walks and only 7 strikeouts in his past 8 or so games, and he keeps tearing the cover off the ball I think everyone should get very excited

by samvescovi on Jul 31, 2009 7:37 AM EDT reply actions

Looking forward

to seeing Pedro in PNC in 2011.

by bucdaddy on Jul 31, 2009 9:46 AM EDT reply actions

Alvarez has made the A to AA jump without taking a step back, which should certainly improve his stock if he can keep it up the rest of the year. But like you said, I’d like to see him walk more and K less. These indicators could be red flags. Still, it would be tough to rank Alvarez behind Lars Anderson or Yonder Alonso (and a couple of other 1B types) as BA did at midseason.

The alarmist phase may be over for now, but he still has quite a few holes in his game to work out.

by Gorkys n' Beans on Jul 31, 2009 10:38 AM EDT reply actions

There was no point in ever scaling back on the excitement level in my mind. Yes, he started off a little rocky, but if you bail on a guy like this after 2 or 3 months, that’s just an overreaction.

by mak_DC on Jul 31, 2009 10:49 AM EDT reply actions

No, I wouldn’t really get too excited till he’s actually doing it up here for the Pirates. But hey, knock yourself out.

by TravisDW on Jul 31, 2009 10:55 AM EDT reply actions

You seem like you need a hug

Or cannot a player dominate the minor leagues and generate a little bit of excitement? Not in your world, I guess.

by ryebr3ad on Jul 31, 2009 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

He can't help himself

He’s not used to hearing about having actual talent in a minor league system. If for no other reason, that might be a good reason to get excited, just because it gives us something to look forward to. Brad Eldred, Brian Bixler, and Ronny Paulino just set us up for a let-down.

He is playing his first season of pro ball after missing the second half of next year with the contract fiasco, he has jumped from A to AA with minimal setbacks, and in the past few weeks of AA ball (where it’s generally determined whether or not you’re legit as a player) he has hit over .300 and he’s hitting the ball hard.

I say if you wanna do a dance, go ahead. I did mine when McCutchen came up.

"Straight ball I hit very much, but curveball, bats are afraid." - Pedro Cerrano

by silencerdu on Jul 31, 2009 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions