The Brewers announced Friday that they’ve hired former big leaguers Rickie Weeks and Pedro Alvarez as new members of their player development staff. Both are being titled assistants to the player development staff, and Alvarez will also be an assistant to the baseball operations team.
Weeks, of course, was a longtime fan favorite with the Brewers, who selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 draft. He somewhat remarkably made his big league debut later that same season, though he appeared in just seven games. Weeks didn’t return to the Majors in 2004, but by 2005 he’d emerged as Milwaukee’s primary second baseman.
From 2005-14, Weeks was the go-to option at second base for the Brew Crew, hitting a combined .249/.347/.425 with 148 home runs and 126 stolen bases along the way. He made the 2011 All-Star team, enjoyed three seasons of 20-plus home runs and also swiped 15 or more bags in five different seasons. Following his days in Milwaukee, Weeks had brief stints in Seattle, Arizona and Tampa Bay, but he hasn’t played at the MLB level since 2017. In all, Weeks batted .246/.344/.420 with 161 home runs and 132 steals through 5112 plate appearances spread across parts of 14 MLB seasons.
Five years after Weeks was the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, Alvarez found his name called in that exact same spot — albeit by the division-rival Pirates. Like Weeks, he was quick to the Majors, spending less than two years in the minors before debuting with the Bucs as a 23-year-old in 2010.
Known for his light-tower power, Alvarez looked to be one of the NL’s burgeoning young sluggers early in his career. Though strikeouts continually worked to suppress his batting average, Alvarez swatted 30 home runs in 2012 and followed that up with an NL-best 36 home runs in 2013 — his lone All-Star season. The vast majority of Alvarez’s playing career was spent in Pittsburgh, but he did spend parts of the 2016-18 seasons — his final three in the Majors — as a member of the Orioles. In parts of nine big league seasons, Alvarez hit .236/.310/.447 with 162 home runs.
Next week comes the signing of Ryan Braun as their head trainer.
Ryan Braun strength and conditioning coach.
He has experience with enhancing physical performance
Nah, he will be the team pharmacist.
Prince Fielder is coming on board as the team chef
I remember when Rickie refused to play LF when the Brewers asked and that was for a first place team.
He wasn’t all that good playing 2B. I can kinda understand his reluctance of moving to a new position.
Alvarez can certainly help you develop your ability to swing a junk pitches
Alvarez never developed himself lol
Similar to making Rob Deer a hitting coach.
Never forget Easter Sunday 1987 vs Texas
Perfect for teaching the minor leaguers how not to play.
Way too much hate in the comments for these dudes
Agree.
Idiotic comments abound.
Graduated from the same high school as Pedro Alvarez, man. Always hoped he’d get a chance with the Yanks. Go Lions.
Pedro was yet another Pirate whose upside fooled everyone. Nonetheless, always thought he was a soft-spoken, good guy who never made excuses. I’m sure he can be a good help
This terrible news. Pedro Alvarez only had one skill as a professional baseball player and that was killing the Cardinals. If he shares his only talent with generations of Brewers the Cards are in real trouble.
That wrist injury for Weeks really killed his career.
*injuries
Pedro was a fine talent and a good guy but he never developed himself.Not sure how that translates to minor leaguers.
The Pirates have missed his power since 2015,but he ran out of positions to play in the field.Then he went to the AL and did not pan out as DH while still only 30 years old.
Alvarez had a chance to go to Arizona after the 2014 season to learn how to play first base.The Pirates needed a first baseman in the worst way.
He decided not to go.
He ended up being a first baseman in the worst way and they non tendered him in 2016.
It seems to me that he squandered a fair amount of talent that few have.
That’s unfortunate for me to hear, @Mendoza. I literally played on a bunch of the same fields as he did.
I’ve been kind of a Pedro Alvarez fan since he was a kid. Certainly had plenty of talent. & he did play in an All Star game, win a Silver Slugger, made $20+ mil. Played in some big games, too.
Takes more than just talent to be great, though.
The only time that I could have come close to that was my high school team had scheduled either a practice or a game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1971 when it was one year old.
Danny Murtaugh called a practice and we were called off,never even making it there.
That would have been quite a memory.
Yeah, that would’ve been something.
But, it’s still a memory/story.
& look, it’s not like there is some huge list of former MLB All Stars that I played on the sane diamonds as. Pretty much a one off. Fun to think about though.
You are right they are both memories and as we get older and hopefully even older memories become a big part of what we have.
And,like this country,many of us hold them dear.
Always a pleasure Ducky.
Can’t arge with any of that, sir.
Thanks for taking the time to pass that story on to me.
Yes, but I often wonder how many managers and coaches were actually on top of their game as players. I suspect it’s never been many. Being able to impart knowledge and inspire young athletes is an art. Hope Pedro makes a big splash in this next chapter of his baseball life
Why would Alvarez have gone to Arizona to learn 1b?
It was the instructional league for minor league players.I am not sure how it works but I think that they play games but basically just for practice.They are held after the ml season is over.I think that it gave the teams further time to evaluate what the players need to work on.
The Pirates don’t have instructional league in Arizona. It’s not common for vet players to attend either, since it is during the MLB season. What you are claiming doesn’t make any sense.
I remember that it was something after the season and that it was organized and minor league players were involved.It may not have been a league but I was under the impression that other teams were involved.He was offered the instruction on a new position to play that could prolong his career and he declined.I do not remember the exact details but I think that it was along these lines.
Arizona Fall League.
Those team’s rosters are comprised of players from multiple teams. So you are both correct.
Thank you Ducky.
I thought that I had it right but I did not know the exact details.
Pedro Alvarez was not playing in the Arizona Fall league at 28 a year after appearing in the MLB all star game and leading the NL in HRs.
Alvarez worked on playing first base on his own instead of spending the winter in Bradenton. Total non story that was talked up by Pittsburgh media.
And you saw what the result was.
He was absolutely awful and it ruined his career.
He was easily the worst first baseman that I ever saw,
I think that it was a reason that he was actually non tendered by the Pirates.And that was after leading the league in home runs and playing in an all star game.
He did not want to help the Pirates.
And he did not want to help himself.
Pedro Alvarez, that is not a name that I thought I would hear again.
When you are making 11 million dollars a year or 75000 you do what your employer asks if it is reasonable. He was willing to try LF with the the Mariners and Diamondbacks after the Brewers cut him.
Brewers-Weeks was like Alvarez inasmuch as Pedro did not embrace the requested position move and those things come back to haunt those players.
It is surprising to me that these guys got these jobs with that in mind and because I would think that there would be many ex players who would like to get their feet wet in positions such as these.
I’m glad to see Rickie back with the crew. Always was a fan of Weeks and I agree with a above comment. The wrist injury really derailed his career.
Pedro was the first prospect I really followed and had huge hopes for, thought he was the young power bat the Pirates needed forever. Few inconsistent seasons later, it wasn’t meant to be. Nice enough guy but couldn’t stay away from bad pitches or make contact. Not sure how that will translate to coaching but good for him,
He is married to Pat Murphy’s daughter. Murphy is the Brewer’s bench coach.
Remember watching him at Vanderbilt. He looked like he was going to be a star, scouts all missed on him.
I knew that he had married someone whose father was in baseball.Then that is the connection.The adage still applies- it is not what you know but who you know.
It certainly was not nearly a complete waste of talent as he was a successful major leaguer for several years.I think that most of us though thought that he had a reasonably good chance to become a star if not a superstar.
Pedro Alvarez, affectionately known as PA: Plate Appearance… K machine.
Maybe the Brewers could also add Gregory Polanco to their development staff to teach base running, sliding, hitting, defense, and the strike zone. Both he and Alvarez (who once chose not to work with Kevin Young, whom the Pirates expressly hired to work with Pedro during the offseason on the move to play first) could just show video clips of themselves and say, “Don’t do it this way?”