Pedro Alvarez

From BR Bullpen

Pedro Manuel Alvarez Jr. (El Toro, El Matatan)

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 225 lb.

School Vanderbilt University
High School Horace Mann High School (New York)

Born February 6, 1987 in New York, NY USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Pedro Alvarez is a top college prospect who was selected second overall in the 2008 amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Alvarez was a good prospect out of high school, having set school records in batting average, homers, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and OBP. He was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year for New York in 2005. Baseball America ranked him as the #97 high school prospect in the country. The Boston Red Sox took him in the 14th round of the 2005 amateur draft even though he was widely expected to go to Vanderbilt; as expected, Alvarez opted for college. The Red Sox had offered a signing bonus of almost $1 million.

Alvarez struggled in fall play at Vanderbilt, hitting just .170, and the team's players voted for him not to be a starter. Coach Tim Corbin decided otherwise and gave him the role; he started slowly, going 1 for 9 with 4 strikeouts and two errors. Pedro exploded and finished the season hitting .329/.456/.676 with 70 runs and 22 home runs and posting a .360 mark in Southeastern Conference games. He led all NCAA Division I third basemen in homers, tied Shawn Scobee for 6th in NCAA Division I in homers (two behind leader Kellen Kulbacki), set the Vanderbilt home run record and led all of NCAA Division I with 57 walks, one more than runner-up Matt Wieters. Alvarez was named to the Baseball America All-American team as the starting third baseman, the only freshman to make the first team; none made the second or third teams. Alvarez won the Baseball America Freshman of the Year Award as well and was named SEC Freshman of the Year and All-Conference third baseman. He had finished second in the Conference in homers, one shy of the lead. Additionally, Alvarez made the SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll. He joined Team USA that summer and hit .382 to lead the team; he also led with 40 RBI, 3 more than J.P. Arencibia. Alvarez's 5 homers were second on the team to Arencibia. The team won Gold at the 2006 World University Championship.

In 2007, Alvarez continued to shine, hitting .386/.463/.684 with 18 home runs and 76 runs. He was third in the SEC in average, 16 points behind Matt LaPorta, and 4 homers behind SEC leader Justin Smoak. Alvarez led the SEC in both runs and hits (105). He made All-Conference at third base but LaPorta beat him otu for SEC Player of the Year honors. Alvarez was MVP of the SEC Tournament. He was 26th in NCAA Division I in slugging and again was chosen as a Baseball America first-team All-American at third base.

Pedro returned to Team USA for the summer of 2007. In the 2007 Pan American Games, he hit .300/~.333/.400 with 8 RBI in five games for the Silver Medal winners. Alvarez led the Games in RBI; most of his RBI came with a 5-RBI game against Nicaragua. Down 3-1 in the Gold Medal game with two outs, Alvarez singled off of Pedro Luis Lazo to bring up Smoak as the potential tying run but Smoak flew out to end the threat. Alvarez hit .233/.324/.567 in the 2007 World Port Tournament with three homers and 7 RBI in 8 games. He tied Alfredo Despaigne and Yosvani Peraza for second in home runs, one behind José Julio Ruíz, tied for 7th in runs (5), was third in RBI (trailing Despaigne and Peraza) and was 6th in slugging. Overall that summer, he hit .315 for Team USA, second on the team, and was also second in runs (23, trailing Jordan Danks) and doubles (9, one behind Smoak). He led the team in RBI with 30) and tied Roger Kieschnick for the home run lead with 7.

Alvarez suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand in his junior year, limiting his production. He hit .317 with a .424 OBP and 9 homers in 40 games after his return to the lineup.