“The dividends he’ll reap from this are big,” Corbin said.

Corbin credits Alvarez’s father, Pedro, and mother, Luz, a part-time school aide, for raising their son well.

“He’s had everything that a well-grounded person needs, and that’s two parents that love him and take care of him and had discipline in their household. Because of that, he’s grown up a nice young man,” Corbin said.

His parents, who are from the Dominican Republic, could not be prouder. With their daughter Yolayna, a student at St. John’s, translating via e-mail, they said that the daily phone calls are a treasure.

“From these phone calls we always know where he is and that he is doing well. In Pedro making his daily phone calls it gives us pride to know that he always has his family in mind and does not exclude us from portraying our roles as parents,” the Alvarezes said.

They kept a tight leash on their son in the Washington Heights area in New York and helped him focus on baseball.

He was 3 when his father noticed him playing with baseball bats, holding them as if he were at home plate. By the age of 4, the father felt his son had a gift and sketched out a field with the positions. He also took young Pedro with him when he played softball.

A Little League shortstop, Alvarez wound up on a summer team controlled by a dean at Horace Mann who got him an application to the elite prep school.

Heading to college, Alvarez considered Notre Dame and Miami, with Vandy winning out on his second visit.

This season has been Alvarez’s toughest. He took a pitch off his right hand in his first at-bat of Vanderbilt’s season-opening game against defending national champion Oregon State, breaking a hammate bone. He finished the game, going 0-for-2 with two walks.

A week into his recovery, Alvarez was back on the field working on fielding drills, moving his feet and staying in shape. He missed 23 games, but is now hitting .281 with 14 RBI and 16 walks and a .934 fielding percentage.

“He’s had to go over some hurdles to be successful here, and he’s really had the tag on the front of his jersey the time he stepped in here,” Corbin said. “I think all these experiences he’s had at Vanderbilt, both educationally and on the ballfield, will help him in his dream to play professional baseball.”

For now, Alvarez is focusing on the season at hand.

A season after enjoying their first No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament in the program’s history, the Commodores opened May by sweeping three games from Tennessee to improve to 34-13 and gain a No. 18 ranking by Baseball America. Their goal is a long run in the NCAA tournament after losing a regional to Michigan last year in Nashville.

“You want to be on top at the end,” Alvarez said of trying to have a strong finish.

It looks like he knows what he’s talking about.

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