In spring training, all eyes were on Pedro Alvarez. As a collective unit, we all watched him go 9-53 with two home runs and 22 strikeouts in the spring and wondered to ourselves, “Will this guy ever turn it around?” To start off the season, Alvarez reached a point where he struck out in 12 of his 19 at bats. That is almost unheard of. Fans were calling for the Pirates brass to trade him, release him or at least demote him to Triple-A so that Casey McGehee and Josh Harrison could play more regularly. Fans didn’t want to be patient with Alvarez.
My question is, where are those fans now?
It’s a very small sample size, but as of late, Alvarez has turned his season around and turned his critics away. Since April 18, Alvarez is 13-38 which is good for a .342 average, with five home runs and 10 RBI. At that point in the season, Alvarez was hitting .068 but has raised his average to .222. After another home run in the Pirates 10-6 loss last night to the St. Louis Cardinals, Alvarez now has six on the year. All of the home runs have been absolute blasts also. Thanks to my good friends at Rumbunter.com and Jon Anderson (@mceffect), you can view where the blasts landed AT THIS LINK .
Alvarez’s six home runs are the second most in the Majors behind only Miguel Cabrera (7) and first among National League third basemen. That means Evan Longoria, Pablo Sandoval, Adrian Beltre, Michael Young, David Freese, Alex Rodriguez, David Wright and more all have less than Alvarez. If that isn’t impressive enough, out of those who qualify, only Cabrera and Freese have a high slugging percentage than Alvarez (.571).
Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle preached the importance of being patient with Alvarez and he said a lot of it has to do with his confidence. He just wants him to put the bat on the ball and Alvarez said the same thing. For the fans however, they want the home runs and they want them now. Alvarez isn’t a singles hitter, he is there to drive in runs. Now that they are getting what they want, are they going to be happy or are they putting him a position where no matter what he does, it won’t be good enough?
My question to you is one that we have all hoped would be asked sooner rather than later. This season, Alvarez has hit in the six and seven slot in the lineup. Are you, the fans, and should Hurdle be comfortable enough to put Alvarez in the cleanup spot or do you need to see if this is more than a blip on the radar? Will putting him in the cleanup spot add too much pressure to a kid who is just now getting comfortable hitting the ball?
The Pirates have used multiple lineups this year, but the majority of them have Neil Walker hitting cleanup. In any other lineup, you’d like Walker to be hitting sixth or seventh in the lineup. Same way as Andrew McCutchen is a prototypical leadoff hitter on most teams, the Pirates don’t have that luxury and have to hit McCutchen and Walker third and fourth respectively. Would the Pirates benefit more from moving Alvarez in the cleanup spot and moving Walker to fifth or sixth?
Looking at the numbers, Alvarez is hitting .222 compared to Walker’s .293 average. Walker also has a higher OBP (.361) to Alvarez (.258). However as a cleanup man, while getting on is good, you are looked to for driving in runs. Alvarez has 12 RBI compared to Walker’s six. He also has six home runs while Walker has yet to leave the yard. Alvarez’s .571 slugging percentage is first on the team, while Walker’s .320 ranks eighth. Alvarez is even crushing Walker in extra base hits 10 to two.
All of the numbers point that Alvarez should be in the cleanup spot, but is now the time to pencil him in behind McCutchen? As reluctant as I am and I’ve preached to be as patient as possible with him, I think it is. My reasoning is if not now, then when? If you wait a month, two months or till August, won’t the questions still be around if now is too soon? The Pirates have scored 16 runs over the past two games. It took the Pirates nine games to eclipse 16 runs to start the season. The reason is Alvarez. We have see what the pitching is capable of and aside from last night, they have been the reason the Pirates are 10-13 after the hardest opening month of baseball in the league.
If it doesn’t work, then move him back down, but facing the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals whom both have outstanding pitching staffs will be a true test for Alvarez and the Pirates. Insert him in the cleanup hole and continue to be patient. As he has shown, it will pay off.
Photo credits: Associated Press
Discussion about this post