Pedro Alvarez Glorious Slow Motion GIF Doesn’t Mask His Plate Discipline in 2013

Pedro Alvarez has been white hot for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

We present to you Pedro.  Alvarez.  The Pittsburgh Pirates slugger did more than hit bombs against the Reds, he single handledly made it difficult for the Cincy to beat the Bucs yesterday.  As Reds skipper Dusty Baker said, their thirdbaseman 5, Reds 3.

Pedro Alvarez drove in one run in the third inning with a single, he got his solo bomb in the sixth inning off Homer Bailey.  Here is the  video of The Big Bull’s sixteenth homer of the year which tied the game at two.  Also, don’t miss the Pedro El Toro Alvarez home run tracker–check out the latest here.

But the GIF of the bases-clearing double in the seventh inning is what brought you here today.  The rip came with two outs and the score tied.

Glorious.

GIF creation by Mike Davidson.

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Since May 9, Alvarez ranks fourth in Major League Baseball with 35 runs batted in this season.  El Toro has eleven home runs in that time which ranks fourth in the National League.

If we go back to April 22nd, El Toro is hitting nearly .250 with an OPS of .532 with 14 bombs.  Not bad right?  The 63 strikeouts is what stands out and it’s coming because Pedro is swinging at pitches outside the zone more than he ever has in his career.

The strikeouts are up to almost 35% since April 22nd which tells me Pedro is trying to still make contact when he should be taking walks.

Look at the GIF again.  Where is that pitch?

It’s on front street.  Alvarez can damage that leather.  It’s when he goes looking on those dirt roads low and away, that Alvarez gets in trouble.  And he’s doing it at an alarming rate this season.

The plate discipline has went from his rookie season when he swung at about 30% of the pitches outside the zone to nearly 39% this season.

We love the power, but we also love the on-base machine that Pedro once was.

Let’s trust we start to see more of the on-base machine and less of the swing machine.