Pittsburgh Pirates: Could Pedro Alvarez win a Gold Glove One Day?

At the plate, although he’s had his moments, it’s still been a struggle for Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez.

Alvarez has shown glimpses of being that middle of the order run producer the Bucs desperately need, but consistency has been a problem. Pedro currently is hitting only .194, but is tied for the team lead with eight homers and is second on the club with 24 RBI. In addition, Alvarez is mired in a 0-for-18 skid that earned him a day off on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

But while he’s struggling at the plate, it’s worth noting the job Pedro is doing in the field.

All of his hard work has paid off of Alvarez has turned himself into one of the best defensive third basemen in the National League.

To be exact, Pedro looks like a gold glove-type of third baseman at times.

However at other times he doesn’t, but compared to when he first got called up, Pedro’s defense has come a long way.

His numbers that include a .911 fielding percentage and 11 errors (leads MLB third baseman) don’t tell the entire story about how much he’s progressed defensively.

One telling stat is Pedro’s range factor of 2.51, which ranks him sixth among major league third basemen.

Pedro can play the position and the 11 errors don’t really bother me as he’s saved plenty of more runs with his glove than have scored as a result of it.

When people knock Pedro, you have to take into account how young and how little professional experience he actually has.

Ideally, this probably would have been the year where Alvarez made his major league debut, giving him a solid three or four years of professional experience in the minors.

Then consider that while Pedro came on as a Pirate at the end of 2010, in reality the 2010 and 2011 seasons were wasted ones for Alvarez. In reality Pedro has had only about two full years’ worth of consistent at bats.

It takes time.  That’s why rushing Alvarez to majors in the fashion that the Pirates did was a huge mistake.

Yet Alvarez has the look of a guy who will eventually put it all together.

The problem with Alvarez, like any young player, is consistency, but I really think that should start come around next season, which should have been the time table all along.

Yet give Alvarez credit for not taking his struggles at the plate into the field.

All along many felt that Pedro’s glove would have to catch up to his bat, but in reality it’s the other way around as he’s becoming a very good third baseman right in front of our eyes.