Henderson Alvarez has followed up last year’s no-hitter by being one of the best pitchers in the National League this season, but the Marlins have placed the 24-year-old right-hander on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.
Alvarez leads the league with three complete-game shutouts in 22 starts and his 2.48 ERA ranks fourth behind only Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, and Johnny Cueto.
In four seasons as a big leaguer Alvarez has never topped 5.5 strikeouts per nine innings, but he’s an extreme ground-ball pitcher, has sliced his walk rate to 1.8 per nine innings, and is nearly impossible to take deep with a grand total of 10 homers allowed in 240 innings since last year.
