PITTSBURGH —
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pedro Alvarez has turned some heads this season.
Just over three months ago, many critics, including me, were saying how Alvarez will be one of the biggest draft day busts ever.
Alvarez took the critics to heart in terms of staying within himself and not letting the pressure get to him.
“I’ve been grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given, and I’m just going out there to take full advantage of it. I just want to go out there and compete,” Alvarez said.
This year compared to last, Alvarez has made a big step in the development of his career. He is batting a sub-par .227 batting average, but his numbers are tremendous for the third-year player out of Vanderbilt.
“This year, I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible,” Alvarez stated. “When I’m hitting now, I’m just trying to see the ball and put a good swing, while trying not to do too much with the ball.”
Alvarez is slugging .486, has drilled 19 bombs, and his OPS is .715. Those numbers are inflated compared to last year when Alvarez had only four home runs, a .191 batting average and a slugging percentage of .289.
With those numbers during his second season, a rookie ball player could be called up to the bigs and put up better numbers than that. But the exciting thing about Alvarez this year is the fact that the Pirates have half a season left and the young player will have an opportunity to hit more than 30 home runs for the first time in his career.
“When hitting, I’m trying not to overthink during ideal hitting situations and try to keep hitting as instinctual as possible,” Alvarez said. “When you go out there and do that, you try to use your abilities and just play the game and then everything takes care of itself.”
Alvarez managed to take the jump instead of being flustered under pressure like many other athletes who don’t live up to expectations right away.
“Everything about this game is about repetition,” Alvarez said. “The more looks I get off of left-handers, the more comfortable I’ll be.”
Alvarez has approached the left-handed pitchers with more confidence this season. His stats have improved again in that category. Although Alvarez has batted .174 during the past seven games, his work ethic — yes, his work ethic — will bail him out again.
“You always want to take it a step further while trying to be the best you can,” Alvarez said. “On a normal day, I’ll head out to the field and do some fielding work, then work out, and then take a few hours in the batting cages so I can work on my positioning. I want to see if my hands are getting through the ball, rather than lagging behind my hips. Both Greg (Ritchie, hitting coach) and video have really helped me in terms of slowing everything down while making notes on what to improve upon.”
So far, the video and the coaching from Ritchie have paid off.
“I’m practicing for hours on end, and I really do enjoy it,” Alvarez said. “Obviously, baseball is a thing that I love to do, and the better you can become, the better you feel about yourself, and that’s why I invest a lot of time and dedication. I want to prove that I belong here in the bigs, and I want to make the fans of Pittsburgh happy that they came and watched me and the rest of our team play.”
Email Jarrod Harris at jharris@timeswv.com and follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/JarrodHarrisTWV.
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