Topic: Pedro Alvarez

Pedro Manuel Alvarez Jr. (born February 6, 1987) is a professional baseball player in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization of Major League Baseball.

Alvarez grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Alvarez has been nicknamed El Toro, Spanish for The Bull, because of his strength and athletic build.

Alvarez first attended the Mott Hall School for gifted and talented students in Harlem, where he was an A student. He then attended Horace Mann School in the Bronx, where he holds numerous baseball records, most notably home runs, batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and RBIs. Alvarez was named Athlete of the Year his senior season. Though he attended a private school, Alvarez's abilities attracted the attention of scouts throughout the New York City area, especially after he led his club team, the Bayside Yankees, to a national title in 2005. In recognition of his success, Louisville Slugger crowned him the Player of the Year in New York and also named him to its All-America team.