Comin’ in HOT
Sometimes you see the fear in their eyes. After
all, high school baseball players don’t usually deal
with pitchers who stand 6-2, 240 and can bring
the heat.
You know, like Eldorado’s Keith Alvarado.
“Baseball was actually my first sport,” explains
Alvarado, who was his team’s baseball MVP
in 2019, finishing 3-0 with a 3.04 ERA and 50
strikeouts. He was also named to the all-district
first team. “Right about 10 or 11 years old I started
to realize I could be pretty good at it, so I started
putting in time to refine my game. I am mostly
a power pitcher but I like to mix my pitches and
catch batters off guard.”
On the football field Alvarado has been catching
running backs off guard, too, as well as off tackle
and right up the middle. An outstanding two-way
lineman for the Eagles, last fall he was named
first-team all-state. “I like to think of myself more
as a defensive lineman who plays offensive line
14 2019 Albuquerque High Schools Football Yearbook
but I will adapt to whatever helps my team win,
and that includes at the next level.”
Last season he helped Eldorado win its way
into the playoffs, finishing 7-5. It was a season
which held great promise before the team lost
its starting quarterback to injury. “At one time
we were ranked No. 2 in the state but we had to
find different ways to win after that injury,” says
Alvarado. “I was proud of our team and how we
battled to make the playoffs and even win a couple
of games.”
As for playing in the line, Keith has been a
linemen since he began organized football. Even at
age six, when he first started playing flag football,
he was already hooked on the sport, watching as
much football on TV as he could, playing as much
football—organized or not—as he could. And even
back then it was more than just running around
and pretending to be some sort of undersized
Brian Urlacher. Even back then Keith had a plan.
Not only is
Eldorado’s Keith
Alvarado an
outstanding
two-way football
player, he’s
also a baseball
power pitcher.
Keith Alvarado, Eldorado