After early-season struggles, Alvarado is positioning himself to be the ninth-inning guy for the A's
The Athletics fired longtime pitching coach Scott Emerson during the All-Star break, and one pitcher who has looked completely different since that move took place is hard-throwing right-handed reliever Elvis Alvarado.
On July 19 against the Washington Nationals, he allowed three earned runs in just ⅔ of an inning in his first appearance after the break. Since then, he has given up two earned runs in his last 16 innings, good for a 1.13 ERA (3.52 FIP). His past three outings have all resulted in saves, giving him five on the year.
"I think the command has gotten better," Kotsay said of Alvarado's development over the course of the season. He also pointed to the confidence he's seeing from the big right-hander, and his execution of his slider as being two more key components for this recent run.
The slider is one that has been left up a few times this season, and has resulted in an obliterating ball over the fence more often than not. The way he's been throwing it more lately has made it look like a reliable weapon he can use to be a dominant late-inning reliever.
In looking over his pitch logs on a game-by-game basis, one clear change for him since the break has been an increased usage of his fastball. After he was called up in June, his heater was typically sitting between 40-67% usage on any given day, generally not on the higher end of that range.
The game before the break he used it at a 70% clip for the first time since April, and since the break, he's deployed it in 13 of his 19 appearances. Even in games in which he hasn't used it at a 70%+ clip, he's still remained in the 60-69% range in five of those remaining outings.
The fastball has been a clear point of emphasis for Alvarado over the past month, and it's leading to much better results.
This season hasn't been an easy one for the 6-foot-6 righty. After being a fan favorite to land the closer role heading into the season, Alvarado struggled to an 8.38 ERA over his first ten outings and was optioned to Triple-A.
Since his return in June, Alvarado has pitched to a 2.88 ERA (4.48 FIP) and is running a 95.4% left on base percentage, which is why there is such a difference between his ERA and his FIP. Due to his recent play, Alvarado has dropped his ERA to 4.09.
Despite holding an ERA that is nearly a run higher than last season's 3.19 across similar innings (44 this season, 42 ⅓ in 2025), his WHIP is also lower at 1.18 (1.32 in 2025), his strikeout rate has climbed two percent to 29.8%, and his walk rate has dropped slightly to 11.2%.
The season didn't start off pretty for Alvarado, but over the final month of the season, he could end up locking down the closer role heading into 2027.
