Since Pedro Alvarez's terrifyingly bad start at AA, he's come around quite well and is starting to do the things we need him to.

I've been reluctant to get too excited about Alvarez's increase in average because a good deal of it came from an increase in BABIP. But at this point, he's hitting .283/.339/.528 and looking good doing it.

Alvarez's walks are up and his strikeouts are down. He's dropped his K% from the disastrous 30% to a still bad but more palatable 25%. One would think that's going to come down more. Meanwhile, he's closing in with the old K/BB ratio, now at 3-1.

And, of course, he's still swinging a potent power bat as always.

Is it safe to be excited about him again?