There are cliches repeated at nauseum every year in preseason camp, and perhaps “best shape of my life” is the No. 1 thing that’s said.
But for Philadelphia Phillies star Jose Alvarado, that was actually the case.
The big left-hander is coming off the worst year he’s had with the Phillies since his first season with the team in 2021.
That year, he posted a 4.20 ERA and league average 100 ERA+ across his 64 outings and 55.2 innings pitched with 68 strikeouts.
In 2024, he had a similar 4.09 ERA and 100 ERA+ in 66 outings and 61.2 innings.
The glaring difference for Alvarado was his strikeout numbers were down, wringing up just 63 batters for a K/9 ratio of 9.2, the lowest of his career since his rookie season in 2017 when it was just 8.8 in 35 appearances.
One of the reasons for that was because he lost velocity on his pitches.
Per Baseball Savant, his dominant sinker averaged 97.8 mph in 2024 compared to 98.7 mph in 2023. His cutter, which he uses to play off his sinker, went from 93.1 mph with 6.3 inches of movement in 2023 to 92.5 mph with 5.5 inches of movement.
That might not seem like a huge difference, but in Major League Baseball where the margins between an out, a base hit and a home run are razor thin, it was enough for Alvardo to go from an elite reliever to an average one.
Philadelphia can’t have that this season.
They need Alvarado to turn back into what he was during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns when manager Rob Thomson could call upon the left-hander in any high-leverage situation with the confidence he would get the team out of the jam.
The good news is, Alvarado looked sharp in his spring debut.
He only threw one inning, but he didn’t allow a hit and struck out two batters.
Knowing he needed to bounce back after a down year in 2024, Alvarado said he focused on getting into better shape coming into camp.
“I had a great offseason. I changed my routine about eating. I lost weight. Latin people, we eat a lot of rice and beans. I switched for more protein, veggies. I came in in good shape and I’m so happy about the result today,” he said according to Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Alvarado seems to have found his velocity again.
He hit 100 mph on the radar gun during that outing, an impressive feat this early in the spring as pitchers ramp up in preparation for Opening Day.
The goal the big lefty had this offseason was to lose weight so he could come to camp in better shape to prepare himself for a bounce back performance.
So far, so good.
