I don’t have a problem rooting for the White Sox. And so I certainly don’t have a problem rooting for their best hitter, Jose Abreu. Especially when the autograph was only like $5.
- I am not sure what caught my attention, but I have been a fan of his since he came over from Cuba in 2013. I remember when he came over pushing hard to get his autograph on consignment and did eventually score him on a sweet spot card.
- In his 2014 rookie season, he hit .317/.383/.581 with 36 HR. He led the league in OPS+ at 173 and would be an all-star, silver slugger, ROY and place #4 in the MVP vote. Not a bad first year.
- After a down year in 2016–he only hit 25 HR with carried a .820 OPS–he came back hard in 2017, ending the season with a line of .304/.354/.552 with 33 HR and 4.7 WAR.
For a guy who has been one of the best hitters in the AL for the last several seasons, its kind of crazy that he only has one all-star selection.
He is 30 so he should have a couple more nice seasons under his belt. The White Sox seem to think the same thing and are holding on to him despite a full-on rebuild. I assume their expectation is that he will still be good when they are competitive again. I think that is a safe bet.
| Year | Age | Tm | G | AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | OPS | OPS+ | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 27 | CHW | 145 | 556 | 176 | 36 | 107 | 51 | 131 | .317 | .383 | .964 | 173 | AS,MVP-4,RoY-1,SS |
| 2015 | 28 | CHW | 154 | 613 | 178 | 30 | 101 | 39 | 140 | .290 | .347 | .850 | 135 | MVP-21 |
| 2016 | 29 | CHW | 159 | 624 | 183 | 25 | 100 | 47 | 125 | .293 | .353 | .820 | 124 | |
| 2017 | 30 | CHW | 156 | 621 | 189 | 33 | 102 | 35 | 119 | .304 | .354 | .906 | 140 | MVP-14 |
| 4 Yr | 4 Yr | 4 Yr | 614 | 2414 | 726 | 124 | 410 | 172 | 515 | .301 | .359 | .883 | 142 | |
| 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 | 637 | 192 | 33 | 108 | 45 | 136 | .301 | .359 | .883 | 142 |