Eddy Alvarez

Position: IF
Born: 1/30/1990
Ht: 5’9″ Wt: 185 lb B-T: S-R
Acquired: Signed as undrafted free agent in 2014 out of Salt Lake Community College
Career Stats

FutureSox Prospect Rankings

  • #30 – 2015 Preseason
  • #24 – 2015 Midseason
  • #14 – 2016 Preseason
  • #26 – 2016 Midseason
  • #23 – 2017 Preseason

FutureSox Media

Accolades

  • South Atlantic League All-Star, 2015 Midseason

Scouting Report

The back story on Alvarez is truly unique. He won World gold and Olympic silver medals in speed skating, with the latter earned in February of 2014 at the Sochi games. But as he told us when we interviewed him, baseball has always been his passion, and now he’s back on the diamond.

With only a year of JuCo ball under his belt and having not picked up a bat in over three years, Alvarez was assigned to the AZL rookie club in June of 2014. His performance was impressive considering his time away and lack of advanced experience: a .346/.433/.500 slash with a 27:34 K:BB ratio in 210 PA across the AZL and Low-A Kannapolis. In 2015, Alvarez opened back at Kanny as their starting shortstop, posting strong hitting results (.285/.408/.409) while walking as often as striking out, and was promoted to Winston-Salem in mid-July where he was even better (.325/.411/.467) to finish the season. He also stole 53 bases in 68 attempts. In 2016, due to his age, the club challenged him with a promotion to Double-A Birmingham. There he struggled badly at the plate to open the season, posting a .189/.257/.225 line in his first 42 games. Then he took off and got right back to his previous numerical territory (.319/.398/.473 in 62 games), and was promoted to Triple-A Charlotte for a dozen games to end the season.

In a mild surprise, Alvarez opened 2017 back in Birmingham, where he struggled on and off but was back to Triple-A to end the season anyway. In 2018, Eddy had a pretty decent season: .253/.348/.435, 8 HR and a decent contact rate while playing both middle infield positions. The Miami Marlins traded for him after the season and he made his MLB debut in 2020.

Alvarez’ speed is plus but not elite, and the base-stealing technique has improved dramatically, though in the last few seasons he backed off the stealing by choice to focus on other aspects of his game. Defensively, Alvarez has rough moments but he’s got the range and surprisingly mature instincts and actions that should allow him to man either middle infield slot in a utility role. His arm is tested a bit but playable on the left side of the infield. This Pedroia-sized infielder has a fairly refined hitting approach and lots of athleticism. Power is minimal, with a swing that doesn’t have a lot of leverage, and then there’s the smaller frame.