Olympian skating through White Sox system

Eddy the Jet is on the move again, and his timing is impeccable.

As the Summer Olympic Games are conducted amid pomp and circumstance in Brazil, the baseball season has hit its dog days. Teams that have fallen out of contention search for positives where they can find them, and for the White Sox, one of the bright lights is an infielder who is flying through their system with Olympic speed.

That’s Eddy Alvarez, and moving fast is nothing new to him. He’s a former Olympic speed skater.

Alvarez was on the medal podium the last time the world’s best gathered under the Olympic flame. He was a part of the United States’ short-track speed-skating relay team, which earned a silver medal in the 2014 Sochi Games.

Alvarez, a Cuban-American with roots in Miami, turned his full attention on baseball after Sochi, and on Wednesday was promoted from Double-A Birmingham to Triple-A Charlotte, only one rung from a call to the Major Leagues.

Former Olympian Eddy Alvarez goes 5-for-5 Monday, promoted to Triple-A today. #WhiteSox https://t.co/0axnhbNFE5 https://t.co/Z0Qw1qvbIQ

— MiLB.com (@MiLB) August 17, 2016

Former Olympian Eddy Alvarez goes 5-for-5 Monday, promoted to Triple-A today. #WhiteSox https://t.co/0axnhbNFE5 https://t.co/Z0Qw1qvbIQ

He’s a good bet to get to Chicago too, probably not in September but at some point in 2017.

Sort of sounds like a Disney movie, doesn’t it?

“He’s making us look good,” White Sox assistant general manager Buddy Bell said on Wednesday. “But he fooled us too. He’s better than any of us thought.”

Alvarez had played only one season of baseball in five years, but former White Sox pitcher Carlos Castillo, a family friend from Miami, got him a tryout with the Sox after the ’14 Olympics. The White Sox needed Minor League depth, so they signed him after he impressed coach Mike Gellinger in a …

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