White Sox slugger Abreu wants to do damage from start to finish this season
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Promise most major-league hitters a .293/.353/.468 slash line with 25 home runs and 100 RBI for a season, and they would jump up and ask where to sign.
Those were Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu's numbers last season, so why was he almost apologetic Sunday at rainy Camelback Ranch?
Stacking up the stats from 2016 to Abreu's first two years in a Sox uniform, there was a noticeable drop in production.
"There were different challenges, especially in my mind," Abreu said through an interpreter. "I never in my life experienced some kind of struggles like I did last year. But that put me in a better position as a player, as a person, too. I'm in a better position now for this season because I learned from the experience."
The second half of last season was just fine for Abreu.
After the all-star break, the 6-foot-3, 260-pounder batted .319 with 14 home runs and 48 RBI in 282 at-bats.
In 342 at-bats before the break, Abreu hit .272 with 11 homers and 52 RBI. He was batting .190 in late April before slowly pulling out of the slump.
"It could have been a combination of things," said manager Rick Renteria, the White Sox's bench coach last season. "I really don't look at last year as any indication as to what is or isn't for the coming season. He looks really good. He looks happy. Looking for him to settle into the spring as we move forward and hope he has the kind of season he's had in the past."
Early last year, Abreu's bat speed lagged, he was constantly getting jammed and he showed frustration by chasing outside pitches and striking out.
As the season progressed, he adjusted and finished with 100 or more RBI for the third straight year.
The White Sox might be in rebuild mode this year, but they're still going to need run producers. Abreu is definitely being looked at in that role, as is third baseman Todd Frazier.
"That's one of my goals," Abreu said. "Everybody knows that at the beginning of last season, I wasn't performing good. It was kind of a surprise for me, too. But I'm in good shape right now and I believe I will be able to carry the end of last season into this season."
It's still very early in spring training, but Abreu already enjoys playing for Renteria, baseball's lone Latino manager.
"He's on top of everything," Abreu said. "He likes to communicate with everybody, to have the same level of communication with everybody. That's important. In my case especially, it's good because I can communicate with him in Spanish. That's good. That's direct communication between us and that's very, very good."
Now a leader on a team in transition, the 30-year-old Abreu is being asked to communicate with the White Sox's young newcomers, and he was already bonding with top prospect Yoan Moncada Sunday.
Abreu and Moncada are reunited after being teammates in Cuba in 2013.
"I think everyone knows how good he is, the kind of talent he has," Abreu said of the 21-year-old Moncada. "I've been trying to talk with him just about how things can be easier for him here, try to give him some advice. He's a nice kid, he likes to do good, and we're good with him."