Pirates hoping power-hitting Alvarez will help end record run of losing seasons

Future is now as prospect Alvarez joins Pirates

PITTSBURGH — White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen picked up a Pittsburgh newspaper to find a considerable chunk of the sports page devoted to the Pirates’ long-awaited decision to recall top prospect Pedro Alvarez.

Guillen immediately had two thoughts: Why couldn’t the Pirates have waited a few days? And what if Alvarez is as good immediately as the Pirates believe he is?

“I’m kind of scared, I open up the sports page and it’s like seven pages of this kid,” Guillen said Wednesday. “I was telling (bench coach) Joey (Cora), ‘I might walk him to face somebody else.’”

Alvarez didn’t exactly struggle in his major league debut, although he committed one of the Pirates’ six errors and went 0 for 2 with — yes, as Guillen hinted — a walk against John Danks as Pittsburgh lost its 10th in a row, 7-2 to the White Sox. Alvarez also drew the biggest cheers from the smallish crowd of 15,218 when he batted.

“I thought I had some good at-bats,” said Alvarez, who had 13 homers and 53 RBIs in less than half a season at Triple-A Indianapolis. “I got some good looks at pitches. I was on some pitches, and I was able to slow the game down for myself.”

Once the former Vanderbilt star gets comfortable being an everyday player, manager John Russell said, “We feel he’s going to be a very special bat for us.”

“I’m hoping this is the first step in a long and successful career,” Alvarez said.

There is nothing in the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Alvarez’s background to suggest the No. 2 pick in the June 2008 draft won’t be. The White Sox players took notice, interrupting their pregame stretch to admire some of Alvarez’s long drives during batting practice. He took Danks the opposite way once during the game, but left fielder Juan Pierre ran down his long fly ball in the seventh.

Nicknamed El Toro — the Bull — for his power as a rising young amateur star in New York City, the lefthanded-hitting Alvarez hit a school-record 22 homers for Vanderbilt in 2006 and added 18 more in 2007.

He spent less than 1½ seasons in the minors before being called up by the Pirates, who were well on their way toward a record-extending 18th consecutive losing season even before they brought up second baseman Neil Walker, outfielder Jose Tabata and right-hander Brad Lincoln ahead of Alvarez. All four started the season at Indianapolis.

The Pirates haven’t had a power-hitting prospect this good since Barry Bonds in 1986, which is only increasing the pressure on Alvarez to be very good in a hurry for a club that’s been very bad for a long time.

“This young man’s going to have an extra amount of challenges because of the weight and the pressure that the external forces are putting on him,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “We’re trying to simplify it a little bit for him. Tell him he’s Pedro Alvarez and to play like Pedro Alvarez, and the weight of the world isn’t on his shoulders.”

Even if it might seem that way initially in a city that’s awaited Alvarez’s arrival since the Pirates paid a club-record $6,355,000 to sign him following several months of negotiations with agent Scott Boras in 2008.

“Nobody has higher expectations for myself than I do,” Alvarez said. “I’m pretty hard on myself.”

To ease Alvarez into the lineup, manager John Russell plans on batting him sixth for now, rather than his customary No. 4 spot.

“Let him get his swing going, let him see what opposing teams are going to do to him (pitching-wise),” Russell said. “Let him get his feet on ground at third base. As we move forward, we’ll see when is the right time to start edging him back up through the middle.”

Alvarez appears to know what he’s getting into, cautioning he can’t be the singular answer to all that ills the Pirates.

Still, that didn’t prevent him from practically leaping with happiness upon learning late Tuesday night from Indianapolis manager Frank Kremblas that he was going to the majors. Alvarez was so excited, he told Kremblas he wanted to drive his father, mother, sister and fiancee to Pittsburgh immediately.

Alvarez’s father worked extra shifts as a New York taxi driver to help pay for his son to attend a private high school, Horace Mann, and accelerate his baseball career.

“I can’t wait to start showing the city what I can bring to the table,” the younger Alvarez said. “All I ask is that the fans of Pittsburgh let me show them what I can do for them and show them how much I love this game — and how hard I can play. I’m super, super excited to be here.”

Guillen rarely sees the Pirates, but he likes what they’re doing by bringing up their top prospects one by one, and only after each has excelled in the minors.

“Make sure you listen to this — in two or three years, it will be a good ballclub,” Guillen said. “Now, they bring their best prospect up. They’re doing the right thing.”