White Sox’s Alvarez Again Aiming To Beat Odds

CHICAGO—Shortstop Eddy Alvarez is a 26-year-old prospect with dreams of making it to the major leagues despite spending most of 2015 at low Class A Kannapolis.

The odds are seemingly stacked against him, but Alvarez has experience rising above challenges.

---

“How realistic is a Miami boy making it to the Winter Olympics?” Alvarez said. “Anything in this world is possible, and I like to think I’m a testament to that. So yeah, the big leagues for me is there.”

After earning all-conference honors as a shortstop for Salt Lake CC in 2011, Alvarez decided to drop baseball and concentrate on speed skating.

“It was three years of training for six, eight hours a day, six days a week,” he said.

All of the hard work paid off, and Alvarez won a silver medal in the 5,000-meter relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

After hanging up the skates, Alvarez caught the baseball bug again, and with the help of family friend Carlos Castillo, who pitched for the White Sox from 1997-99, he signed a minor league contract in June 2014.

“I’m not going to lie, the transition was difficult,” Alavarez said. “But thankfully, I had a very strong lower base and in my opinion, the swing relies a lot on the lower half. I just needed to get a little bit more upper body strength.”

After beginning his first pro season in the Rookie-level Arizona League in 2014, Alvarez opened eyes last year after hitting .296/.409/.424 at Kannapolis and high Class A Winston-Salem. He also stole 53 bases.

“I was very, very happy, but there’s always room for improvement,” he said. “I took last season as a building year for me.”

While he played 119 games at shortstop last year, Alvarez also played four games at second base with Winston-Salem.

“I actually thought I was going to be a second baseman coming into this organization,” Alvarez said. “But they saw me play some shortstop and they liked what they saw. I struggled a little bit during the middle of last season but again, it’s a learning process.”

CHI-LITES

• The White Sox issued 20 non-roster invites to spring training, and the list includes minor league free agents such as righty Phillippe Aumont, catcher Hector Sanchez and infielders Steve Lombardozzi and Andy Parrino.

• Micker Adolfo, a 19-year-old right fielder who had surgery last August after breaking his left ankle, is on track to play for Kannapolis at some point this season.