Players

Armando Alvarez makes his way to the Sioux City Explorers amid his ninth professional season. The 30-year-old infielder spent the first part of the 2025 baseball season with the St. Paul Saints, the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. In 38 games this season with the Saints, Alvarez slashed .226/.307/.365 with four home runs and 22 RBI.

The Miami native signed a minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics before the 2024 campaign. He began the season in Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s selected his contract and called him up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. At age 29, Alvarez made his major league debut that same day against the Minnesota Twins. He picked up his first hit, a double off of Tyler Anderson, in his first career start a few days later in Anaheim against the Angels. Alvarez was up and down between the majors and Triple-A all season. In 75 minor league games, he hit 315 with 15 home runs and 54 RBI. In 16 MLB games with the Athletics, Alvarez slashed .243/.282/.270 and was elected to free agency after the season. 

He signed with the San Francisco Giants on December 15, 2022. Alvarez spent the majority of the 2023 season in Triple-A Sacramento in the San Francisco Giants organization, with a brief cameo in Rookie ball in the Arizona Complex League. In 82 games across two levels, he hit .313 with 18 home runs and 55 RBI. Alvarez sported a .569 slugging percentage. That season, he mainly played a mix of first and third base, with a few spot starts at second. 

Alvarez played exclusively for the New York Yankees Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Railriders, in 2021 and 2022. He appeared in 197 games with 28 home runs and 107 RBI over the two seasons. Known for being a super-utility option, Alvarez spent the majority of his time at third base but also started some first, second, and even left field for the Railriders. 

The former Eastern Kentucky Colonel split his 2019 season between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre Railriders in the New York Yankees farm system. In 124 combined games, Alvarez slashed .270/.324/.417 with 11 home runs and 76 RBI. He also racked up the doubles, coming away with 31 of them in 2019. 

The New York Yankees selected Armando Alvarez in the 17th round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Eastern Kentucky University. In his first three years in the organization, Alvarez progressed quickly. He reached Double-A during his age-23 season and stayed consistent as a hitter the whole way. Alvarez is a player who has decent power, but it’s more evident in his doubles than in his home runs. 

After a star-studded campaign with Miami Dade Community College, Alvarez made the jump back to Division I and transferred to Eastern Kentucky in 2015. In two years with the Colonels, Alvarez racked up 163 hits, slashing .367/.415/.608 with 25 homers and 58 RBI. He hit over .400 as a senior and whacked 28 doubles during his time in the Blue Grass State. 

After playing sparingly at Florida International, Alvarez decided to transfer to a junior college. He settled on Miami-Dade and was an instant star. He earned a second-team All-Conference selection while being a member of a conference championship team. The team finished 37-15 and won the Florida State JUCO championship, where Alvarez was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. 

After a dominant prep career, Alvarez committed to play at Florida International University. He wouldn’t see a ton of playing time, hitting at a .280 clip in 65 at-bats. 

The future major leaguer was a two-time district champion and two-time all-county selection at Miami Killian Senior High School. He batted .490 with 30 RBI as a junior and .400 with 33 RBI as a senior. Alvarez graduated in the top 20% of his high school class.