Alvarez spent more than half the 2009 season in Pensacola, but after the Pelicans released him on July 24, he signed with the Saltdogs five days later and proved to be one of the team’s best in-season signings ever.  Rafael hit .369 over the season’s final 30 games, and then hit .424 in ten playoff games, including an 8-for-16 performance against his former team in the championship series.  Alvarez is in his 17th season as a professional baseball player, a career that began in 1994 after he was signed by the Minnesota Twins organization as an undrafted free agent.  He spent seven years in the minors for the Twins, reaching as high as Class AAA in both 1997 and 1999.