How much coffee is too much coffee? Philadelphia Phillies reliever José Alvarado is apparently trying to find out. In a recent story published about the team’s bullpen at The Athletic, it was revealed that Alvarado is something of a coffee fiend. In reality, that might be putting it a little lightly.
“By the time José Alvarado fired his 30th pitch Wednesday night, he had consumed at least 10 coffee drinks,” the story begins. “He swears this is true. The man has a tattoo of a small mug with the words ‘Coffee is life’ inked on his left hand. He starts the day with six espressos, then it’s a steady drip through the night.”
Is the secret to Alvarado’s success — he’s nine years into his big-league career with a 3.41 ERA and 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings in that time — that all of this coffee gives him the boost he needs to shut down his opponents? Or is that because of all the coffee and its caffeine, he is vibrating while on the mound and so is the ball while it streaks towards the plate?
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The career of a pitcher could end at any time because of injury, ineffectiveness or because their fastball loses a couple of ticks of velocity. Alvarado might still be just 30 years old, but who knows what the future holds? He might want to convert this coffee obsession into a second career, a la former NBA player Matthew Dellavedova, and get his own line of coffee going. Or, he could go the Jimmy Butler route and open your very own boutique coffee shop in the city where you play ball?
Then again, who knows how much coffee Alvarado would sample in a day when he didn’t have to be anywhere else during the day like Citizens Bank Park, the bullpen or the mound, and sampling this stuff was his day job instead? Maybe it’s best if Alvarado sticks to just being a fan on this one.
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Major League Baseball
Philadelphia Phillies
José Alvarado
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