...At least not yet. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick:
↵↵↵Pedro Alvarez: 6-for-41 with 19 strikeouts. How buried does he have to get before Pirates send him back to Indy?
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More buried than you can get in 14 games, that's for sure. Alvarez has nothing to prove in the minors, and there's no obvious benefit to jerking him back and forth, particularly when he may well end up sorting things out on his own anyway. Alvarez has a history of starting slowly when promoted to a new level. In April, he posted a .730 OPS in his first exposure at Indianapolis before raking in May and June; he did roughly the same thing last year in his pro debut in Lynchburg. Obviously, his struggles so far with the big league team have been worse, but they've only been over a couple weeks' worth of games. I highly doubt the Pirates will send him down unless he struggles for much, much longer than this, and I don't think they should. We already know he can crush Class AAA pitching, so the best practice he can get to make adjustments and start whaling on major league pitchers as well is by actually facing them.