Cristian Alvarado

Cristian Santo Alvarado Castro

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 175 lb.

• Born September 20, 1994 in Acarigua, Portuguesa Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Cristian Alvarado has pitched in the minors and for the Venezuelan national team.

He was signed by Baltimore Orioles scouts David Stockstill, Jesus Alfaro and Calvin Maduro in August 2011. He debuted the next summer with the DSL Orioles, going 2-3 with a 3.68 ERA. He fell to 1-7 with the '13 DSL Orioles 2 despite a 4.10 ERA, fanning 69 and walking 10 in 59 1/3 innings. He tied for 7th in the Dominican Summer League in losses but was also 8th in strikeouts.

Alvarado split 2014 between the DSL Orioles 2 (3-0, 0.36 in 4 G) and GCL Orioles (1-2, Sv, 5.40 in 11 G). He was with the GCL Orioles again in 2015 and dominated in five starts (5-0, 0.33, 0 BB in 27 IP); he also was 3-2 with a 2.92 ERA for the Aberdeen IronBirds. He tied for 4th in the Gulf Coast League in wins despite only making five starts there. He tied for 7th in the O's chain in victories, despite pitching for short-season teams.

In 2016, he moved up to the Delmarva Shorebirds and posted a 10-9, 3.41 record with 148 K to 29 BB in 148 IP. He tied for 5th in the South Atlantic League in wins and was 2nd in Ks (6 behind Jose Taveras). Among Baltimore's minor leaguers, only Matthew Grimes won more games while no one struck out more (Lucas Long was next, 19 behind). In '17, he fell to 7-9, 5.00 for the Frederick Keys but retained his crisp control with 22 walks in 140 1/3 innings. He tied for 7th in the Carolina League in losses but also led with three complete games.

In 2018, he was 12-11 with a 4.18 ERA for Frederick, walking 23 in 155 innings. He led the Carolina League in wins (one more than Wil Crowe), homers allowed (19, tied with Alex Wells), innings pitched and starts (tied at 26). He tied Carson LaRue for 10th in ERA, tied for 2nd in losses and was 4th in whiffs (119, between Sam Hentges and Gerson Garabito. Among Oriole farmhands, he was 4th in Ks and 3rd in wins, behind Keegan Akin and Michael Baumann.

Alvarado moved up to the Bowie Baysox in 2019 and transitioned to the bullpen, going 3-3 with 13 saves, a 2.66 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. He tied Diogenes Almengo for 2nd in the Orioles chain in saves, behind Tim Naughton's 20. He was 9th in the Eastern League in saves, between Melvin Adon and Brooks Kriske.

He then pitched for Venezuela in the 2019 Premier 12. In his lone outing, against Taiwan, he relieved Carlos Navas in the 9th with a 2-0 deficit. He allowed a single to Chin-Lung Hu. Hu stole second then came around on two wild pitches. Alvarado recovered and got Po-Jung Wang and Che-Hsuan Lin on flies and fanned Sheng-Wei Wang to end the inning.