“El Toro strikes again!”
You’ve heard that phrase a lot lately, 16 times this season to be exact, from broadcaster Tim Neverett while calling the Pittsburgh Pirates games. El Toro, of course, is the nickname for third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Since Alvarez has arrived, he’s been everyone’s favorite player to either love or hate; there’s no in between. While Alvarez enjoyed a 3-4 day against the Reds with another home run and five RBIs, he continued to prove the point I’ve been trying to drive home.
Pedro Alvarez deserves to be in discussion for the mid-summer classic.
No, I’m not crazy. I’m 100 percent serious. I’m not saying that Alvarez will make the team, but he should be in discussion to be an All-Star. I mean really, which other third basemen deserve the consideration? We know David Wright is a lock to play the game at Citi Field in New York, but what about the rest of the league?
To me, the only person I put in front of Alvarez is Pablo Sandoval despite his recent injury. Sandoval has eight homers, a .289/.326/.427 line and 37 RBIs in just 57 games. In turn, Alvarez leads all National League third basemen with 16 homers, 48 RBIs, but his slash line takes a hit at .223/.290/.464.
If you want to criticize Alvarez, and many of you do, you’ll take a look at his average (.223), errors (13 last in the NL) and fielding percentage (44th in the NL). Call me an Alvarez apologist (I’m not), but his average is what it is. That’s what the Pirates knew they were getting. The sooner the fans embrace it and realize that the man that leads the National League in home runs the past calendar year is valuable that way, the easier it gets. The expectations for him to hit .270 are unrealistic. Any team in the league will take 30 homers and 100 RBIs each year.
As for the defense, he doesn’t pass the numbers test. If you want to go by the numbers, Clint Barmes is the leads all of Major League short stops in range then and is in the top five for defensive fielding. Alvarez has taken strides each year with his defense and if you actually watch the games, you can tell the improvements that he’s made.
Despite his low average, Alvarez deserves the consideration. Who else are you going to put there? David Freese? Ryan Zimmerman? Martin Prado? Michael Young? Possibly, but are they more deserving than Alvarez?
Maybe, just maybe, Alvarez gets the call and we can see El Toro strike again.
