Henderson Alvarez began this season at Single-A, but 16 starts later the 21-year-old right-hander is in the majors after the Blue Jays called him up today.
Alvarez is stepping into the rotation spot that belonged to Carlos Villanueva, who’s on the disabled list with a strained forearm, and will make his big-league debut tomorrow at home against the A’s.
That’s a favorable first matchup for Alvarez, who had a 2.86 ERA and 66/17 K/BB ratio in 88 innings at Double-A.
Those are strong overall numbers and reports of his fastball hitting the upper-90s consistently speak well of his raw stuff, but his strikeout rate is nothing special and Alvarez had mediocre numbers at Single-A last season. Expect some growing pains initially.