Vanderbilt's Pedro Alvarez recently won National Freshman Player of the Year honors from several publications including Louisville Slugger and Baseball America. He is now the thrid baseman for the USA National Team who is currently in Cuba for the World Championships and are 25-2-1 in the competition (I hope WillieBoBo reads that). As of August 11th, Pedro has played in all 28 games, and is hitting .386 with 5 HR and 39 RBI, as well as being 9 for 9 in steal attempts. Pedro, who is from the Bronx and went to Horace Mann HS in Riverdale, was drafted in the 14th rd. in 2005 by the Red Sox, but opted for college instead.

I played against Pedro last summer when he was with the Bayside Yankees. Luckily for me, I didn't have to pitch against them. We had all heard about him because of the draft and all the media attention he'd been getting locally (not to mention he hit close to .500 and 14 HR w/Bayside), but I don't think anyone around here expected this from him. How much do you think his stock has risen since high school because of what he has done? He still has 2 years left until he has another draft eligibility.

A kid's brother that is a good friend of mine played on Bayside along with Perdro. He said he is flat out good. This kid pitched for Penn St. for two years and then had a problem with the coach so this year he is joining Vanderbilt along with Perdro. Acording to him, a kid by the name of Price (Pitcher) will be Top 5 of the 2007 draft and Perdro will be Top 5 of the 2008 draft. Well all I have to say is that look out for Vanderbilt next season.