{"playerId":2269,"percentChange":-5.3,"averageDraftPosition":158.4,"percentOwned":50.5,"playerRaterSEASON":1.6,"playerRater7DAY":3.6,"mostRecentNews":{"news":"Alvarez cracked his third homer in eight days Sunday against the Astros.","spin":"Two days after hitting a tape-measure homer, Alvarez returned to the lineup against a right-handed pitcher Sunday and sliced an opposite-field liner just inside the left-field foul pole. Alvarez even stole his annual base Thursday, giving him three steals in parts of three major-league seasons.","date":"Sun May 19"},"fullName":"Pedro Alvarez","seasonOutlook":{"outlook":"Alvarez will never be mistaken for a batting champion, but in terms of sheer power, he's one of the more overlooked sources. After a horrific 2011 in which he batted .191 and whiffed 30.5 percent of the time he came to the plate, the 26-year-old closed some of the many holes in his swing, soaring to personal bests in homers (30), RBIs (85) and slugging percentage (.467). The most notable improvement was his handling of breaking pitches; he improved by 142 points in OPS and hit nine homers against curves and sliders last season despite seeing 7 percent more of them compared to 2011. In fact, he batted .266 with six of those homers against them after the All-Star break alone. Those bode well for Alvarez's chances at another big-power-at-low-cost campaign, but he's also among the leading contenders for the major league strikeout crown, meaning he's a liability in batting average in rotisserie leagues or in points-based formats that penalize for strikeouts.","seasonId":2013,"date":"Wed Feb 20"},"playerRater30DAY":4.1,"playerRater15DAY":3.8,"positionRank":14}