Pedro Alvarez: No Reason To Freak Out Yet

I will worry what he goes 0-100 with 50 ks, ok maybe not that bad but if goes 0-20 with 10ks I will beging to worry a little bit

But if the Pirates don’t send him down ASAP, they might not make the playoffs!

That is, when would be a good time to start thinking about sending him back down if he continued to strike out at this rate and wasn’t putting up any good rate stats?

I think maybe after 200 ABs (PAs?) like Charlie said might be a good time. But right now I’m not really worried.

but now that he’s here, I’d prefer he’s given time to make the necessary adjustments at the ML level. He’s shown an ability to adapt to each level after slow starts and he’s not exactly costing us a pennant run.

I’ve been concerned about his contact rate since Day One, but there’s no point in sending him back to the minors now. The slow start was expected. Unless his average remains comically low, I’d keep him up for the rest of the season. Things will hopefully click for him at some point, at least from a power perspective. Don’t think he’ll ever hit for a high average.

Maybe give him a day off sometime soon, but he needs to stay up here and take his licks. This was to be expected.

Someone (Don Long) needs to address the fact that Pedro pulls his head on every single swing. You wont hit the ball when your looking down the first baseline everytime. “see the ball, hit the ball” or “watch the ball hit the bat”, both involve keeping focus on the baseball, you know the thing your suppose to make contact with

14 games is no where long enough to evaluate a player. With his credentials he should get at least 3 months to fail, before anyone should begin to wonder what’s wrong.

Even then I don’t think worrying is necessary. Eventually he’ll be everything everyone thought he’d be, and maybe even the Pirate savior as some people see him.

Not time to worry yet. It takes time to develop at the major league level. Look at Mike Schmidt’s rookie year; he hit something like 170, then went on to become one of the greatest third basemen of all time. I don’t think Pedro has that kind of future, but he has potential to become a home run hitter who doesn’t hit for too high of an average. And that will be fine with me.

Or look at the Roberto Clemente, a player with a far more contact-oriented swing than Pedro’s. His first year (1955) he hit 255 in 474 at bats. Aside from 1956, when he hit 311, his next years were 253 in ’57; 289 in ’58; 296 in ’59 and finally 314 in ’60. Then, in his seventh year, 1961, he hit 351 and continued on a tear through the 60s, winning the first of his four batting titles.

As for pedro, he probably should have stayed down for longer. But, now that he is up, I hope the Pirates put him in the lineup all the time and let him take his lumps. The purpose of this year is to get these guys playing. The team isnt going anywhere.

He has a tireless worker for a hitting coach like Don Long.
Look how these other hitters on the Pirates have improved under his guidance and instruction.
I would use examples of the players who actually have gotten better under Long, but it might take me a while to find 1, and i mean 1.
This coaching staff is the worst. They all need to move on.

it is tough when you have no real leadership on the bench, Guys have no one to go to to settle them down. Alvarez and Clement have proven this. Tabata coming back down to earth after a fast start.

Walker seemed to avoid this, lets hope the injury doesnt cloud his hitting eye

If Walker misses the Philly series, that is another strike against the Fo for not putting him on the Dl in the first place. The team is currently 2 men short on the roster, and seem to be playing the waiting game with these guys.
Dl someone, and bring up a healthy body so Cedeno does not have to see the field.
As for Pedro, looks to me he stands a little too far away from the plate, and has no chance at pitches on the outside corner.
And i agree with most, you can not send him back down after 50 or so ab’s. He is the 3b of this team, so let him figure it out.
Hopefully starting tonight, they will lose that picture of him staring at Stargell, when it’s his turn to bat.
As the great Russell says" he needs to just relax".
Those comparisons of him to Stargell are not helping the situation.
Still waiting for him to really T one up and pop one about 450 feet. I know it’s coming, but when??.

Even Longoria struck out in 24% of plate appearances in his first month and a half of baseball at the Major League level. I think the Rays were well served not to send him back down.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

We should have offered Doumit and his salary this year and the next year for Main. Molina for Main?? What in the whole wide world?

No reason to freak out.