Saturday brought some good and bad news for Pedro Alvarez. While the Pirates activated him from the disabled list, they also optioned him to the minors.
Alvarez had been out since the middle of May with an injured right quad. It’s been a slow road back for the third baseman, as he was shut down again when the quad was reaggravated in early June. Alvarez was finally able to get back on the diamond and was able to complete 12 games during his rehab assignment.
While he didn’t produce much at all at the plate during the first part of his stint in the minors, Alvarez was able to turn things up over his last week in Triple-A. Over 5 games, the 24 year old went 5-17 with 2 doubles and 5 RBIs.
Even so, the Pirates are not ready to return the former top prospect to the majors.
"“There’s a bigger issue than health here,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s very close, health-wise. We need [him] to be in a condition that’s going to be good for [him] to play, to run the bases, to hit. We need a volume of at-bats strung together that have nothing to do with home runs, OPS, slugging percentage, where [he’s] squaring the ball up and hitting it hard where it’s pitched.”"
Pittsburgh states that they are in no way giving up on Alvarez and still consider him ‘a big part’ of their future. However, they think that offering him some more time in the minors will help Alvarez return to the player he was in 2010.
Last season, Alvarez’s first with the club, he was able to put up a line of .256/.326/.461 with 16 home runs and 21 doubles over 95 games.
2011 hasn’t been as kind to the youngster. Before his injury Alvarez only managed an OPS of .587 and 8 extra base hits in 138 plate appearances.
In Alvarez’s absence, the Pirates have gone with a combination of Brandon Wood and Josh Harrison at the hot corner. The club enters Sunday only a game back in the NL Central with a record of 46-43.
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