Jose Alvarado Shines as Philadelphia Phillies Closer: A Look at His Dominant Start to the 2024 Season

2024-04-18 19:41:15

The 2023 Major League season undoubtedly marked the definitive explosion of the Venezuelan left-hander Jose Alvarado. It was already well known that the Venezuelan has the qualities to be an elite reliever, however, last year he took a step forward and established himself as one of the best in the entire Big League.

Looking ahead to 2024, Alvarado arrived with the responsibility of becoming the new Philadelphia Phillies closer, after the departure of Craig Kimbrel. In his first performance, against the Atlanta Braves, he did not do well at all, allowing three hits and five earned runs in just two-thirds of action. Since then, things have changed.

The Marabino has managed to show his best version after his disastrous performance in the first game, and has accumulated 7.2 consecutive innings without receiving a single run, so even though his effectiveness remains quite high due to his first performance, the reality It tells us that Alvarado is being one of the best relievers of this start of the season.

Alvarado “untouchable” on the mound

As mentioned above, in his first appearance of the year José Alvarado allowed three hits and a scandalous five runs received. The Creole was undoubtedly punished by the Atlanta Braves’ offense, but he turned the page pretty quickly.

Two days later, Alvarado took the mound again to seek revenge against Atlanta, and he did so successfully, pitching a perfect inning to earn his first saved game of 2024.

This performance filled the left-hander with confidence, who went 7.1 consecutive innings without allowing a single hit over eight games, until finally this Wednesday the 17th, just one out away from closing the game, the Dominican Elehuris Montero of Colorado he hit a single. Of course, Alvarado did not hesitate and dominated Sean Bouchard with a fly ball to second to save his third game of the campaign.

After nine appearances and 8.1 innings of work, Alvarado has an ERA of 5.40, with three saves and nine strikeouts. If we take his first start out of the equation, his effectiveness would be immaculate, which shows that despite the numbers currently saying otherwise, the Venezuelan is in a sweet moment in his career.