Atlanta promoted Alvarez from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday.
A 21-year-old shortstop, Alvarez didn't hit a home run over his 202 plate appearances with Mississippi, but he earned the promotion after going 16-for-17 on stolen-base attempts while getting on base at a .381 clip.
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Braves' Ignacio Alvarez: Leading Sally League in OBP
Rotowire
Alvarez, 20, has a .317 average and .496 OBP with zero home runs and seven steals through 25 games for High-A Rome.
Alvarez's 154 wRC+ ranks 12th in the South Atlantic League, but the majority of that production is tied to his league-leading .496 OBP, while his .378 slugging percentage ranks in the bottom half of the league. He has continued his trend from last season, where his walk rate (24.8 percent) is more than double his strikeout rate (10.6 percent), and when he does connect, he's usually hitting singles to the opposite field. Alvarez has played almost exclusively at shortstop and has a .979 fielding percentage. If he can stick at the six, it's possible his high-OBP, low-impact offensive profile could be enough to play at the highest level.
