BRADENTON, Fla. -- To understand what makes Andy LaRoche tick, follow this sequence of logic ...

He is the Pirates' third baseman.

He would love to remain exactly that.

He knows Pedro Alvarez, the franchise's top prospect in years, is a third baseman.

He knows Alvarez almost surely will arrive in Pittsburgh this summer.

And he is helping Alvarez, above and beyond, to prepare for exactly that.

"Andy's a great person, an outstanding person," Alvarez said Monday at his McKechnie Field stall. "It started last year when I was new here, and he took me under his wing. He taught me to be a good clubhouse guy, how to be there for your teammates. Out on the field, he gave me pointers on the mental, the physical parts of the game .. anything at all, he's shared it with me."

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Today

Game: Pirates vs. Detroit Tigers, 1:05 p.m., McKechnie Field, Bradenton, Fla. RHP Kevin Hart vs. LHP Nate Robertson. Other pitchers: D.J. Carrasco, Vinnie Chulk, Brendan Donnelly, Evan Meek.

Radio: Fox Sports Radio 970.

Camp roster: 53 players, including 28 pitchers, five catchers, 11 infielders, nine outfielders.

Injuries: RHP Octavio Dotel (oblique), RHP Joel Hanrahan (elbow), SS Ronny Cedeno (hand).

Opener: 19 days until the Los Angeles Dodgers at PNC Park.

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Alvarez smiled and looked over at LaRoche sitting by his stall.

"It's funny, we've never played in a real game together, but I feel like he's my teammate."

Thing is, these two will be teammates soon. And, assuming each achieves up to expectations, there will not be room in the infield for both.

The Pirates had strong reservations about whether Alvarez could stay at third base in the majors, given his thick frame. But his elite training regimen this winter, as well as sound fielding and a strong, accurate arm have rendered such reservations negligible, if not entirely nonexistent.

Where will that leave LaRoche?

He has played some second in the past, then did so again this past fall in the Florida Instructional League. The latter was an assignment he accepted voluntarily, and it is a rarity for any major leaguer, much less one who had just played 150 games. But he did so in anticipation of Alvarez, and he came away encouraged about his ability to play second if needed.

Akinori Iwamura will be at second to start the season. He can be a free agent when it is done, which would appear to make him a prime trade candidate. But management made clear upon acquiring him over the winter that it will consider offering a contract extension this summer.

That makes LaRoche's future with the Pirates look like ... well, who can say?

Perhaps general manager Neal Huntington, the man who will make that call, has found one of the healthiest views on the matter: "We have one third baseman in Pittsburgh right now, and that's Andy LaRoche."

The healthiest view, as is easily evident, belongs to LaRoche.

"I don't worry about it," he said. "I don't worry who's behind me, who's in front of me. All I can do is go out there and take care of business. That's all I've been hearing about this winter. Right now ... big deal, if Pedro comes up and plays third base, hey, that's great. Hopefully, we can both get in the lineup. But for right now, John Russell and Neal have said I'm the third baseman, and all I can do is keep doing my best."

Of Alvarez, he added, "He's a great kid, really, and he looks like he's going to be a great player. I hope he turns out to be great because that's going to help us win games. That's what I want more than anything. All this other stuff will sort itself out."

So, back to what makes LaRoche tick ...

Offensively, he is coming off a first full season in the majors with numbers below par for a third baseman: .258 with 12 home runs and 64 RBIs. The home runs were glaring, ranking 23rd in the majors at a position where power always is coveted.

Still, eight of those home runs came in the final two months, and LaRoche's stance is that was no accident: He and hitting coach Don Long spent the spring and early summer focused on simply making contact with pitches that had given him trouble during that disastrous Pittsburgh debut in 2008 -- .152, three home runs, 12 RBIs in 49 games -- after arriving in the Jason Bay trade.

"I hit decent for average at the beginning, but the power numbers weren't there," LaRoche said. "Finally, toward the end, they both started to click. And I don't feel any differently right now. I know I can hit for power. I've always done it."

LaRoche became Baseball America's No. 1 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers' system in 2007 mostly for that reason: He had 18 home runs in 73 games for Class AAA Las Vegas and, overall, he has hit a total of 95 in 495 minor league games, a rate of one every five games.

This spring, LaRoche is off to a dismal 4-for-24 start with a home run, but no one is expressing concern about it.

Defensively, too, LaRoche's 2009 showed an upward curve.

In the season opener at St. Louis, he committed two ugly errors and appeared lacking in confidence for a while after that. But persistent work, as well as the teachings of respected former infield instructor Perry Hill, rapidly converted him into a solid, sometimes spectacular defender. His arm became considered one of the best in the game at the position.

Then, there is character.

He is 26 years old and mature well beyond that, handling streaks and slumps with an even keel, conducting himself as professionally as anyone on the roster. And, when it comes to charity, he far exceeds all that.

When a Pirates Charities official brought a boy in a wheelchair into the McKechnie clubhouse the other morning, LaRoche approached him with a smiling high-five and ended up spending much of the next half-hour escorting him from stall to stall to meet more players. It is a scene that will be repeated all summer, at PNC Park and stadiums across the country.

"Andy has an easygoing way of being with people, especially kids with special needs," said Patty Paytas, the Pirates' vice president of community affairs. "I've worked with a lot of players over the years, and I know it's not always easy. But it's very natural for Andy, and it comes from the heart. He's a special young man."

Another sign of LaRoche's personality, and maybe the most powerful one possible this year: He invariably talks team-first, even playing for a team that might not need him come May or June.

"To me, when people ask what this season means to me ... I want to win," LaRoche said. "And I think we will. A lot of people are picking us to come in last. I think most people are. It's big for us to go out there and prove those people wrong. It's up to us to show we are an elite big-league team and we can beat anybody out there."

And why does he feel that way?

"We've got a lot of young guys, and people are picking us to finish last because of the names they see on the roster. But we know we have the talent to win. We've got the pitching, we've got the defense like we did last year, and our offense has been doing a lot of work."

The Pirates, off Tuesday, resume Grapefruit League action today against the Detroit Tigers at McKechnie.

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