BRADENTON -- One of baseball’s best stories this season is being written in Pittsburgh.
The tradition-rich Pirates, who have become one of baseball’s most woebegone franchises, are suddenly relevant again.
They took two of three from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and woke up Tuesday morning a game above .500 – big news for a team that hasn’t sported a winning season since 1992 – and in fourth place, but just four games out of first in the tightly-bunched National League Central.
Understandably, Pedro Alvarez can’t wait to be a part of it.
But Tuesday night, the Pirates third baseman found himself in Bradenton, playing third and batting third during the high Single-A Marauders’ game against the St. Lucie Mets.
On the disabled list since May 21 with a right quadriceps injury, Alvarez is trying to work his way back to Pittsburgh, making Bradenton just another stop on his journey back to the big leagues.
“I’m just glad to be here,” Alvarez said Tuesday, “and starting my rehab process.”
It hasn’t been easy, especially after Alvarez experienced a setback earlier this month while playing in an extended spring training game.
“It’s not an injury he can play through,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on June 8.
Alvarez echoed the sentiment Tuesday. Though he got an at-bat Monday during the Gulf Coast League Pirates’ game in Clearwater, he has been treating the ailment with plenty of rest and ice.
“It’s like any muscle injury – you just have to give it time to heal,” Alvarez said. “That’s basically been the whole process, just waiting it for heal. In the meantime, I’ve been working my way up to where I was at, and that’s where I am in the process.
“It’s a lack of flexibility in the quad, severe tightness,” he continued. “You really can’t do anything too strenuous when it comes to the rehab. It’s a lot of smallish exercises to strengthen the quad.”
Whether he was lounging on a recliner while watching television or tossing around a football, Alvarez looked comfortable and at home in the Marauders clubhouse Tuesday. There wasn’t an air of arrogance floating around him.
Of course, Alvarez, the Pirates’ first pick of the 2008 draft, isn’t too far from the minor leagues himself. He helped the Pirates’ previous high Single-A team in Lynchburg win a league title in 2009, and he appeared in 66 games last season with the franchise’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis before getting a bump to the majors.
Alvarez hit 16 home runs in 95 games last year with Pittsburgh and is batting .208 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 36 games this year.
Playing five innings Tuesday for the Marauders, Alvarez was 1-for-2 with a run scored. he also assisted on four putouts at third.
“A lot of guys here are working hard and working toward a common goal,” said Alvarez, who was also a 14th-round pick by the Boston Red Sox in 2005, “which is to have a long major-league career.”
Alvarez’s goal is to get back to his, especially since the Pirates are starting to matter again to the people of Pittsburgh.
“They’re playing great baseball, and we haven’t hit all cylinders yet,” he said. “Once we start doing that, we’re going to win a lot more ballgames. Obviously, I would like to be part of that. It just gives me all the more motivation to get up there as quickly as possible, and be part of that team again.”
Right now, however, his main priority is to get healthy. When Alvarez gets back to Pittsburgh, he wants to stay there.
“I want to make sure that I keep strengthening my quad, and take it day by day, pitch by pitch, once I start playing,” Alvarez said. “You don’t want to rush it so you don’t have any relapses, so take care of it when it comes. Instead of having a chronic injury, you just have one mishap and get done with it.”
