1. Yadier Alvarez, RHP
Birthdate: 3/7/96 (20 years old)
Level(s) Played in 2016: rookie, low A
Stats in 2016: 59 1/3 IP, 2.12 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 8.75 BB%, 33.75 K%
When the Dodgers went all-in on the international market in 2015, Alvarez was easily the jewel of their class. He then came out and simply showed that he may have even been under-paid at $16M bonus coming from Cuba.
Alvarez has a fastball that easily sits in the mid-90s without any worry in his delivery of added effort to generate that velocity. He has topped 100 MPH a few different times this season, and honestly, he still has room to fill out!
He pairs that heat with a slider that really works in two ways in the starts I saw of him in Midland. He seemed to get a hard, sharp break on the slider at times and at others, he’d go with more of a sweeping, wipeout variety slider. Both registered in the low- to mid-80s, which made it even harder on hitters to know which they were about to face.
His change was also more impressive than I’d been led to believe, easily grading as plus, and fringe plus-plus, likely sitting at a 60-65 on the 20 to 80 scouting scale, primarily due to inconsistency with the movement on the pitch. His arm speed deception, however, was consistent and made the pitch work for weak contact even when he didn’t get great movement on it.
Alvarez really has not taxed his arm much at all, so the Dodgers will be easing him in, and one of the biggest things to leap out when watching him is just how well he controls the zone at this point after having nearly two seasons off of throwing competitive pitches. While some down-graded Alvarez coming into the season due to his control, he showed premier control in his time at low–A, walking 11 total in 9 starts.
Alvarez will likely take a crack at the Cal League this year, so be wary of judging his performance too much by his numbers there, but if he can succeed there, he could move quickly toward the majors as one of the most exciting arms the Dodgers have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot in this system.
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