Alvarez embraces 'the call' to join Pirates
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The Pirates promoted third baseman Pedro Alvarez from Class AAA Indianapolis.
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MOOSIC, Pa. --The Pirates' top power-hitting prospect in decades is on his way to PNC Park.
Pedro Alvarez, the 23-year-old third baseman and No. 2 overall pick in Major League Baseball's 2008 draft, received the word late Tuesday night following a game he played here for Class AAA Indianapolis against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
As he walked from the clubhouse to the Indians' team bus -- which was bound for Buffalo, N.Y., with his luggage and equipment bag already on it -- his cell phone rang.
It was a call from Neal Huntington, the Pirates' general manager, telling Alvarez to come to Pittsburgh.
He jumped in the air.
His fiancee shrieked, and his sister embraced him. His mother began to cry, and his father shook his head in apparent disbelief.
Pedro Alvarez then looked at them all and said, "That was the call."
Indianapolis manager Frank Kremblas emerged from the clubhouse and pulled Alvarez aside to tell him the Pirates would be in touch to sew up travel arrangements.
Alvarez, showing his youth, cut Kremblas off and replied, "I'll drive there right now. I'll just get in the car and go. Right now."
Truth is, it was Alvarez's swing that propelled him to Pittsburgh: He batted .277 in Indianapolis this season with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs.
Alvarez seemed to understand the scope of the move.
"This is the first step in a long journey, hopefully," he said. "It is a big one. All those practices and all those long drives, it pays dividends in situations like this. ... I am at a shortage for words just trying to explain what this feels like right now."
Alvarez's story traces from a Little League phenom in New York City's predominately-Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood, through his time as a big-time NCAA slugger at Vanderbilt University, then his two-year sprint through the Pirates' system after the team paid him a franchise-record $6.355 million signing bonus.
Through it all, Alvarez has cited his tight-knit family as his stabilizing force. Pedro's father, Pedro Sr., woke early in the morning to work as a livery cab driver, his goal being to earn enough to attend Pedro's games and to make extra money to send him to a private school.
First Published June 16, 2010 12:00 am
