Giancarlo Alvarado (born January 24, 1978 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a minor league pitcher, who is currently a free agent.

Alvarado was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1995 and made his professional baseball debut with the rookie class Gulf Coast Pirates that same year. After two seasons in the Gulf Coast League, he was promoted to the Class-A Augusta GreenJackets in 1997. He remained in the Pirates system through 2001, playing with the Lynchburg Hillcats and AA Altoona Curve. He also played in the Puerto Rico League in the winter of 2001.

He left the Pirates organization as a free agent in 2002 and played for the High Desert Mavericks in the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2002 and the Lakeland Tigers and Erie SeaWolves in the Detroit Tigers organization in 2003.

Unable to land a job in the affiliated minors after the 2003 season, he pitched for the independent Lancaster Barnstormers and Newark Bears, the Macoto Cobras in Taiwan and a couple of Mexican League teams during 2004-2005.

The Cincinnati Reds picked him up for 2005 and assigned him to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. He also pitched for the Puerto Rico team in the Olympic Qualifying series and for Gigantes de Carolina in the 2007 Caribbean Series.

In 2007, he pitched for Saltillo Saraperos in Mexico and in 2008 for the Salt Lake Bees in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim system, his first appearance at the AAA level. His 131 strikeouts for the Bees were third in the Pacific Coast League.

After the season, he pitched for the Uni-President Lions in the Taiwan Series and the 2008 Asia Series. He then pitched for Puerto Rico in the 2009 Caribbean Series and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

He signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2009 season and remained in the rotation for the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes for the entire season, finishing with a 13-10 record and a 3.49 ERA in 27 appearances.

[edit] External links

• Giancarlo Alvarado on "MILB.com"
• Baseball Cube
• Baseball bullpen article