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Pedro Alvarez vs NL Central pitchers

By Jason Rollison

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Apr 25, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez (24) is called out on strikes with the bases loaded by umpire Will Little (93) during the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated Pittsburgh 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Pedro’s performance against the St. Louis Cardinals looks like this:

Name PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Lance Lynn 47 41 9 3 0 2 10 5 11 .220 .298 .439 .737
Adam Wainwright 46 42 10 1 0 2 8 4 16 .238 .304 .405 .709
Carlos Martinez 14 14 2 0 0 2 4 0 4 .143 .143 .571 .714
Trevor Rosenthal 12 10 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .200 .333 .200 .533
Michael Wacha 12 10 1 0 0 1 1 2 4 .100 .250 .400 .650
Carlos Villanueva 11 10 3 2 0 0 0 1 2 .300 .364 .500 .864
Kevin Siegrist 10 10 3 0 0 0 3 0 2 .300 .300 .300 .600
Matt Belisle 9 6 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 .667 .778 .667 1.444
Randy Choate 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 .222 .222 .222 .444
John Lackey 6 6 4 0 0 2 2 0 0 .667 .667 1.667 2.333
Seth Maness 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000
Total 179 159 41 6 0 9 30 19 45 .258 .335 .465 .801

Overall, we can see a lot to like here.  Although his slashlines aginast Adam Wainright, Lance Lynn, and others aren’t overly impressive, they are very Pedro-like, and are a welcome tradeoff for his RBI totals.  For Pedro to make strides against the Cardinals this year, he would do well to lower his strikeout rate against Wainright, which comes in at a gaudy 38.1%.  Also of note is that Alvarez will see a lot more of John Lackey this year.  In a VERY small sample size, we can see that El Toro has taken Lackey yard twice for solo shots.  If my prediction that Pedro bats fourth comes to fruition, the chances for more damage could be there in spades.

Overall, I truly believe that as Pedro goes, so goes the Pirates.  He must avoid prolonged slumps and get back to his 2013 form for this team to truly succeed.  Yes, they did it last year without him, but as Andrew McCutchen and others have said, there is still work to do.  For this team to take the NL Central crown, Alvarez must do well against in-division pitching.

And thus ends my look at how Pedro Alvarez fares against the pitchers he will be seeing the most.  Stay tuned as we will perform this same exercise for more of the Pirates hitters.

Next: Pedro Alvarez deserves a chance at cleanup

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