Photo: Screenshot
12 / mayo / 2024
At the end of April, Cuban fans lost one of their usual references in Major League Baseball (MLB): Cienfuegos native José “Pito” Abreu. An indomitable slugger with the White Sox and protagonist of great moments in the last postseason with the Houston Astros.
It is no secret to his followers that the first baseman has terrible starts in baseball each season. But in the middle of the campaign the “elephant” regains its stride and ends up “crushing” or, at least, useful in playoffs.
Last year, around this time, I wondered if the Cienfuegos native was worth almost 60 million dollars, taking into account his seniority, 37 years, and his obvious offensive debacle. It’s not just about defense that you can live in the Big Top.
Near the start of the 2023 campaign in the Major Leagues, Pito made an effort to lift his offense, but he was still stuck in the worst slump of his career. We all gave him a margin of recovery and in the postseason he showed a better version.
On this occasion, he did not receive much leeway from the “galacticos” board and they sent him to the Minor Leagues to recover his hitting rhythm. Of course, without a return date to the best baseball in the world. The Cienfuegos native took it on with sporting shame, and we expected nothing less.
Abreu, in his first 71 at-bats this year, had only had seven hits, with an anemic average of 099. The Cienfuegos native hit out 18 times and the team’s specialists pointed out that he had swung late on “almost all the straights.” ».
«Do you know what has been the most difficult for me? And I say this from the bottom of my heart: I feel ashamed. The people in this organization brought me here to do a good job. I have not done it. The difficult thing is also that my colleagues see that I have not done my job, although they have always supported me. They have always been by my side, but I will not stay down,” Abreu told ESPN after the designation to the Minors.
Joe Espada, the mentor of the Houston Astros, later confirmed that the Cuban would not be assigned to the Triple or Double A teams, because there he would have few at-bats and Abreu’s recovery was urgent for the team.
«He was not sent to Sugar Land (AAA) or Corpus Christi (AA) because playing there he would only have 3-4 shifts per game and thus it was difficult to progress. We decided to send him to West Palm Beach because there we can control the volume and give him all the shifts he needs in a day », he detailed.
The latest news from the Astros’ rookie training camp in Florida indicates that Abreu is “doing well,” although “there is no timetable for his return to the Major Leagues.”
Everything indicates that the team’s coaches are working closely with Abreu, repairing the details that have caused the slugger to currently be far from his best. From the Texan ninth they also applaud the humility with which the man from Cienfuegos took the sending to the Minors. A player of his category, with more than five seasons in the first level, is not obliged to be relegated, unless both parties reach an agreement.
Abreu has a million-dollar deal with the Astros for three years, although since his arrival to the team in 2023, he has barely hit 18 homers and driven in only 93 runs.
This year he is in his worst version and those in Houston could not afford that luxury, so they sent him to improve his form and we will see how long it takes to recover it, or if we are facing the most bitter end for the Cuban first baseman.
Some call his signing one of the Astros’ worst investments in recent times. Others point to the “time for his goodbye” after the “magic” with the wood in the Major Leagues ran out.
Whatever happens, it will not be a good year for “Pito”, the last or penultimate of those left at this level of North American baseball. Like the directors of Astros, who paid the million for him, all that remains is to cross our fingers and hope that the “Elder Elephant” brings out the breed of yesteryear.
And if not, just assume that he has had a stellar career in the Major Leagues and start packing his bags to celebrate his 40th birthday, away from the baseball diamonds. I am one of those who trust in his return and his contribution to the line-up of the 2023 runners-up.
2024-05-12 18:17:20
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