Henderson Alvarez

Henderson Álvarez III wasn’t a World Series champion pitcher, but he forged a notable baseball career. Many faithful Miami Marlins fans remember him best from his no-hitter on September 29, 2013, against the Detroit Tigers.

Born in the city of Valencia, in Venezuela’s Carabobo State, on April 18, 1990, Álvarez started his professional baseball career in 2007 at the age of 17 after signing on October 17, 2006, with the Toronto Blue Jays as an international undrafted free agent.

The rookie right-handed pitcher made his debut with the Blue Jays in the Dominican Summer League. He started his career with a 1-2 won-lost record and a 5.61 ERA, pitching 25⅔ innings. He is listed at an even 6-feet tall and 205 pounds.

In 2008 Álvarez moved to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Blue Jays. He almost doubled his innings pitched (46⅓) but with a similar ERA (5.63) and again a negative won-lost record (1-4).

The Blue Jays saw potential and promoted Álvarez to the Lansing Lugnuts in the Class-A Midwest League in 2009. Before that, he pitched in one game in the Venezuelan Winter League for Los Tiburones (Sharks) de La Guaira in the 2008-09 season.

The 2009 season marked another step in Álvarez’s climb toward major-league baseball. He was an all-star with Lansing,1 with a 9-6 won-lost record (his nine wins led the team) and a 3.47 ERA in 124⅓ innings pitched. He struck out 92 and walked 19.

This earned him a promotion to the Dunedin Blue Jays of the advanced Class A-Advanced Florida State League for the 2010 season. He was again an all-star and was selected to appear in the All-Star Futures Game. In 2010 his stats were a bit below those of the year before: an 8-7 won-lost record, 4.33 ERA in 112⅓ innings pitched.

Álvarez returned to his country and played for Los Tiburones in the 2010-11 Venezuelan Winter League as a relief pitcher in 10 games with a 2.13 ERA in 42⅓ innings pitched.

In the United States, 2011 was a key year for Álvarez. He started the season with the Dunedin Blue Jays, throwing 8⅓ innings in two games, then was promoted to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Double-A Eastern League. For a third time he was named an all-star and made a second appearance in the All-Star Futures Game. His stats with the Fisher Cats showed a distinct improvement: an 8-4 won-lost record and and a 2.86 ERA over 88 innings. He struck out 66 and walked 17.

On August 9, 2011, after right-hander Carlos Villanueva was placed on the disabled list with a forearm strain, Álvarez was promoted to the Blue Jays.2 His first game under manager John Farrell was a start against the Oakland Athletics the next day. He worked 5⅔ innings and gave up three runs on eight hits. The Blue Jays came from behind and won the game, 8-4, the win going to reliever Casey Janssen. 

Álvarez lost two August starts when his teammates scored only one run in each. His first major-league win came in Baltimore on August 31, 2011: a 13-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. He worked eight innings, allowing only three base hits and walking no one. This was a major landmark for Álvarez: at 21 years and 135 days, he became not only the youngest Blue Jays pitcher to win a game since 1997, but also the youngest starting pitcher to record a win for the Blue Jays since 1979. He finished the season 1-3 but with a solid 3.53 ERA over 63⅔ innings of work.

It was a successful start, even though the team placed only fourth in the American League East Division with an 81-81 record.

In 2012, again with the Blue Jays, Álvarez played in 31 games, a season of ups and downs. He recorded his first complete game and first shutout, 4-0 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on May 4, 2012. Brandon Morrow had pitched a shutout the day before, so the duo became the first to throw back-to-back shutouts for the Blue Jays since 1993.

Álvarez, however, had the lowest strikeout rate in the league (3.80) and also was ejected by umpire Marty Foster for throwing at a Texas Rangers batter on May 26, 2012. The team (73-89) finished fourth. Álvarez had a 9-14 won-lost record and a 4.85 ERA in 187⅓ innings pitched.

On November 19, 2012, the Venezuelan pitcher was traded to the Miami Marlins in a massive 12-player deal. The Blue Jays traded Álvarez along with Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jeff Mathis, Jake Marisnick, Justin Nicolino, and Anthony DeSclafani to the Marlins in exchange for Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, José Reyes, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio, and financial compensation.

In the 2013 season, Álvarez earned national headlines. The season had started poorly for him, however. In the preseason 2013 World Baseball Classic, he pitched for the Venezuelan national team, but was the losing pitcher against Puerto Rico as Venezuela was eliminated in the group phase.

The day before Opening Day, Álvarez was placed on the Marlins’ disabled list with shoulder inflammation. “He is going to be down, he’s taking a break” said Marlins manager Mike Redmond. (The severity of his injury was unknown at the time.3) In fact, Álvarez was out for the first half of the season. He pitched in some minor-league games for two Marlins affiliates, the Jacksonville Suns and the Jupiter Hammerheads, before returning to the majors, making his Marlins debut on July 4 against the Atlanta Braves and holding the Braves to three runs over five innings. His first Marlins win came on July 26 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a 2-0 victory with Álvarez throwing six scoreless innings of two-hit ball.

Even though Álvarez had missed nearly half the season, 2013 was a better season for him than for the Blue Jays. He had a 5-6 won-lost record and a 3.59 ERA in 102⅔ innings pitched in 17 games. The Marlins’ team ERA was 3.71 and they finished in last place, with a record of 62-100. One notable game for Álvarez was played on September 2 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. In the top of the third inning, with the Marlins down 3-1, he came to bat and hit a three-run homer down the left-field line off Travis Wood – the only home run of his major-league career – providing what turned out to be the runs that won the 4-3 game.

All told, Álvarez hit .220 in 115 major-league plate appearances, with 9 RBIs.

It was in the very last game of the 2013 season that Álvarez truly made the headlines. Against the Detroit Tigers, he threw a no-hitter, the 284th in regular-season major-league history and the first ever at Marlins Park. He just allowed three baserunners, on an error, a walk, and a hit batter. The Marlins won 1-0 – a walkoff win on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the ninth inning. The last time major-league baseball had seen a no-hitter in the final game of the season had been in 1984. It was a huge moment for Álvarez, and many anticipated a great 2014 season. 

Before the 2014 season, Álvarez pitched in five games (2-0 won-lost record, 2.74 ERA in 23 innings pitched) for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the 2013-14 Venezuelan Winter League.

It was just the beginning. With the 2014 Marlins, the Venezuelan pitcher started strongly, with a two-hit, 2-0 shutout of Seattle on April 19. Two other shutouts followed. On May 6 he held the Mets to six hits in a 3-0 win and on June 3 he shut out Tampa Bay, 1-0, on eight hits.

 All told, Álvarez in 2014 recorded the strongest stats of his major-league years. He started 30 games and had a 12-7 won-lost record and a 2.65 ERA in 187 innings pitched. He struck out 111 and walked 33. He was selected for the National League All-Star team and his three shutouts led the major leagues. He had to deal with a minor shoulder injury4 but he finished a Marlins losing season (77-85) as the winningest pitcher on the team. He received one vote in the 2014 NL Cy Young Award balloting.

After his strong 2014 season, Álvarez was rightfully chosen as the 2015 Opening Day starting pitcher. Though he gave up only two runs in six innings, the game was a 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.5 With a major shoulder injury in April and a fruitless attempt to come back in the second half of May, Álvarez lost every one of his four starts that season. He had to undergo shoulder surgery on July 28.6 The 2015 major-league season was the first major-league season in which he didn’t record a win: 0-4, 6.45 ERA, just 22⅓ innings pitched.

Álvarez was granted free agency by the Marlins on December 2, 2015, and signed with the Oakland Athletics on December 28.

His 2016 season in the Athletics’ organization didn’t earn Álvarez a return to the majors.7 Dealing with his injuries required additional shoulder surgery,8 after he had played briefly with two minor-league affiliates, the Nashville Sounds (5 games, 1-0, 18⅔ innings, 3.86 ERA) and the Stockton Ports (5 games, 13⅓ innings, 0-1, 4.73 ERA), and a sole game in the fall league with the AZL Athletics.

Álvarez became a free agent on October 7, 2016, pitched for the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (2-1 in seven starts), then signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on August 22, 2017.

He made three starts (2-0 won-lost record, 2.84 ERA, 19 innings pitched) with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, then on September 11 was promoted to the major-league club, starting three games (0-1, 4.30 ERA, 14⅔ innings pitched). The Phillies had a 66-96 record that season.

In 2018 and 2019 Álvarez pitched for Los Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Triple-A-level Mexican League. He was 6-1 in the Spring league and 3-4 in the Autumn league.  

Álvarez was signed by the Washington Nationals on November 16, 2018, but failed to be promoted, playing in for the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League (24 starts, 1-4 won-lost record, 5.94 , 53 innings pitched). He was released by the Nationals on July 1, 2019.

In the 2018-19 Venezuelan Winter League, Álvarez played for his hometown squad, Los Navegantes del Magallanes. With the baseball team from Valencia, he pitched in 10 games and went 3-6 with a 6.64 ERA in 40⅔ innings pitched.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Álvarez pitched in 2020 for the champions of the independent American Association, the Milwaukee Milkmen.9 He was the winning pitcher in Game Two of the finals against Sioux Falls, throwing seven shutout innings in mid-September.10

During that season Álvarez signed on August 9 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the contract was voided on August 16.11

Later that year, Álvarez remained active, playing for Los Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League.12 Once you could find his tweets in @HendersonA37 and his posts at @alvarez3737 on Instagram. As he tweeted on September 27, 2020, “en este momento es importante tener jugadores de experiencia en los roster.” (At this moment [MLB playoffs], [it] is important to have experienced players in the rosters.)13

Álvarez continued pitching for Magallanes in winter league ball the next three seasons and pitched in three games – he was 1-0 – in the 2021 Caribbean Series.

His 2022 and 2023 seasons were both in Mérida, Yucatán, pitching in the Mexican League for Los Leones de Yucatán, starting 17 games and finishing with a record of 7-4 (4.43 ERA) in 2022 and 6-4 (3.68 ERA) in 2023.

In 2024 Álvarez continued pitching Mexican League baseball, starting four games for the Saraperos de Saltillo (Norte Division) and two for the Guerreros de Oaxaca (Sur Division), for a combined 1-2 (5.40 ERA).

Álvarez clearly kept plugging away, pitching professional baseball wherever and whenever he could, into his 35th year.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. Additional information has been contributed by Bill Nowlin.

Photo credit: Henderson Álvarez, Getty Images.

Notes

1 “Alvarez Participates in MLB Futures Game,” milb.com, July 2, 2010. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100702&content_id=11861122&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t424&sid=t424.

2 “Jays’ Alvarez Set for Major League debut against A’s,” Toronto Star, August 10, 2011. Thanks to Adrian Fung.

3 Michael Jong, “Henderson Alvarez Suffers Setback in Return from Injury,” SB Nation Fish Stripes. https://www.fishstripes.com/2013/5/3/4296272/miami-marlins-news-henderson-alvarez-injury-shoulder-setback.

4Juan C. Rodriguez, “Marlins Shelve All-Star Alvarez with Shoulder Inflammation,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Deerfield Beach, Florida), August 1, 2014. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-08-01/sports/fl-marlins-notes-0802-20140801_1_henderson-alvarez-colin-moran-jake-marisnick.

5 Clark Spencer, “Henderson Alvarez, Named Marlins’ Opening Day Starter,” Miami Herald, March 29, 2015.  http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article16857254.html

6 Drew Silva, “Henderson Alvarez Undergoes Shoulder Surgery,” NBCSports.com, July 28, 2015. http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/07/28/henderson-alvarez-undergoes-shoulder-surgery/.

7 “Henderson Alvarez’s Rehab on Pause After Shoulder Discomfort,” ESPN.com, June 19, 2016. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/16340382/henderson-alvarez-shut-oakland-athletics-due-shoulder-discomfort.

8 Jeff Todd, “Henderson Alvarez Undergoes Shoulder Surgery,” mlbtradeumors.com, September 20, 2016. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/09/henderson-alvarez-set-for-shoulder-surgery.html.

9 “Deal with Pittsburgh Falls Through,” rotowire.com, August 17, 2020. https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=11198&refer=SportsRef.

10 Curt Hogg, “Champs! The Milwaukee Milkmen Defeat Sioux Falls to Win the American Association Championship,” Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, September 17, 2020. https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/2020/09/17/milwaukee-milkmen-win-2020-american-association-baseball-championship/3489912001/.

11 “Deal with Pittsburgh Falls Through.”

12 https://twitter.com/HendersonA37/status/1312092257894498304. Note: as of June 2023, these two Twitter posts were no longer available.

13 https://twitter.com/HendersonA37/status/1310279029199704067.