Alvarez Jr. leads Braves' contingent in AFL

ATLANTA -- After hitting his first two career homers in a 6-5 win in Detroit on Sept. 20, Nacho Alvarez Jr. was playfully asked if he had just done enough to get himself out of playing in the Arizona Fall League.

“That’s funny,” Alvarez said with a chuckle. “I’m excited to go there to be honest. There's a group of guys that I'm excited to pick their brain. I'm sure they're going to ask me a bunch of questions from being around these guys and being in the big leagues. But, I mean, I'm excited.”

Having served as the Braves’ third baseman most of this past season’s second half, Alvarez isn’t your normal AFL participant. But the reason he is currently competing against some of the game’s top prospects is because he just experienced a season that was anything but normal.

Alvarez missed almost all of Spring Training with a left wrist injury that sidelined him until the middle of June. No big deal. The 22-year-old prospect would still get three months of development at the Triple-A level, right? Nope.

Two weeks after returning from the wrist ailment, Alvarez suffered an oblique strain that sidelined him another couple weeks. He rejoined Triple-A Gwinnett’s lineup on July 11, the same night Austin Riley was initially sidelined by an abdominal strain. So, Alvarez was in Atlanta’s lineup the next night and remained there for two weeks.

After spending one more week at Gwinnett, Alvarez returned to the Braves to replace Riley, who suffered his season-ending abdominal injury on Aug. 3.

So, instead of getting a chance to develop at the Triple-A level, Alvarez tallied 208 of this year’s 292 plate appearances at the big league level. He showed limited power potential as he hit .234 with two homers and a .626 OPS with Atlanta.

Or maybe the lack of power just highlighted the effects of an injury-plagued season that was targeted to be spent at the Triple-A level.

To make up for lost time, the Braves sent Alvarez to Arizona to compete alongside some of their top prospects in the developmental league. He doubled and walked twice in the only game he had played for Glendale through Monday.

Here’s how a couple other Braves prospects have done thus far in the AFL:

RHP Jhancarlos Lara (Braves' No. 21 prospect): When Lara was promoted to the Majors in late September, the Braves were in Detroit. While fans expressed excitement on social media, thoughts inside the clubhouse included concerns about the fact the current opponent was the playoff-hopeful Tigers.

What if Lara’s lack of control led to him injuring a Tigers player much like Riley had been injured by an inexperienced Angels pitcher in 2024? This concern was erased when the 22-year-old hurler was sent back down after not making an appearance.

Lara is now in Arizona looking to harness his fastball, which hit 100-plus mph 73 times this year. He struck out 31.8 percent of the batters he faced at the Double-A and Triple-A levels this year. But he did so while producing a 19.9 percent walk rate.

The hard-throwing hurler pitched around two walks while recording a scoreless inning in his only AFL appearance through Monday.

INF Jim Jarvis: Acquired from the Tigers in exchange of Rafael Montero at the Trade Deadline, Jarvis produced a .705 OPS in 21 games for the Braves’ Double-A affiliate this year. He singled and stole a base in the only AFL game he had played through Monday.