Are we going to continue with casting for the position of the best Cuban batsman of this century or do we decide to definitively postpone the search until José Abreu retires, time passes and someone can dispute the honor? This may be a sensible idea, with the forgiveness of Yordan Álvarez, who pushes hard and has the necessary talent to win the award in the future, if he manages to sustain that lofty pace with the tree for several years.
But while we wait for Yordan, a powerful machine that will surely mark an era, we can admire the tremendous capacity of the “Bad Weather Phenomenon”, who has managed to dispel the doubts that arose around him when the first two months of the season ended. with an average of .244 and an OPS of .739, by far the worst indicators of his career.
However, Abreu corrected the course as only an extra class can and began producing without brakes from June 1. To get an idea, since that date he is the second player in the Major Leagues who hits the most (.342), only surpassed by the Rays’ Colombian, Harold Ramírez (.371). In each of these months, the man from Cienfuegos has left an offensive line (Average/On-Base Average/Slugging) well above average.
* June: .346/.431/.533
* July: .350/.409/.515
* August: .344/.392/.430
“He’s a phenomenal hitter. Seriously one of the best in the league. You just have to see it day after day. He has struggled with some issues in the first month of the year, but everyone was like, “He waits, he just waits. He is (Abreu). He’s coming back »… he’s just doing his thing”, said to the Chicago Tribune his partner Andrew Vaughn.
Although he hasn’t had the same feature-length production as other seasons (he’s aiming to drop below 20 homers and 80 RBIs in a single 162-game season for the first time in his career), “Pito” has led the offense of some White Disappointing Sox, who at this point are six games out of the final postseason berth.
The team from the south of Chicago has only made 526 touchdowns (ranked 21st in MLB), they have a negative run differential and none of their players has reached 15 home runs, a figure that 83 players have already reached during the contest.
Abreu has managed to oxygenate the batch with a lot of tact, patience and good eyesight. This year, for example, the number of swing on pitches out of the zone, and he hasn’t chased opposing shooters’ first pitches too much either.
Predictably, those trends have allowed him to walk more and strike out less. So far this season, 9.9% of his appearances have ended with free walks (the best indicator of his career) and he has struck out only 16.2% of his trips to the plate, below his career average (19.9). %).
Abreu’s discipline has also helped him improve his contact rates, so we could be close to witnessing his first season with 190-plus hits. So far, the Cuban has scored 146 rockets —105 of them since June 1, leader in MLB— and 44 games with at least two hits, leading the American League and second in the Majors, only surpassed by Freddie Freeman (45 ).
Precisely, this week the White Sox first baseman won two multi-hit games and reached 401 in his career, also becoming the fourteenth Cuban to break the 400 barrier. Rafael Palmeiro (814), Tany Pérez ( 741), Bert Campaneris (588), Tony Oliva (562), Orestes Miñoso (532), Tony Taylor (519), José Canseco (508), José Cardenal (504), Leo Cárdenas (442), Cookie Rojas (441) , Yunel Escobar (413), Tony González (412) and Tito Fuentes (403), the latter seriously threatened by Cienfuegos.
The thing is, Abreu has hit 400 multi-hit clashes in just 1,237 games. The only Cuban who reached that figure in so few games was Tony Oliva (454). If we go back to MLB history, Chipper Jones and Frank Thomas had the same number of multi hits (401) as “Pito” in the first 1,237 games of their careers, but Al Kaline (400), Ken Griffey Jr. (400 ), Luke Apling (400), Joe Cronin (398), Mel Ott (397), Jimmie Foxx (396), Frank Robinson (394), Ryne Sandberg (391), Iván Rodríguez (391) and Travis Jackson (391) remain behind the Cuban.
Do you know what all these names that we mention together with “Pito” Abreu have in common? Well, each of them are members of the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Immortals! It would not be unreasonable to think that the “Bad Weather Phenomenon” is also on the way to immortality, but the fact that he reached the Major Leagues at 27 years old may reduce his chances. Either way, no one will be able to take away from Abreu the title of best Cuban hitter of this century, at least for now.
Adolis, showman in Texas
On Monday, August 22, Adolis García reached 20 home runs for the season. The Avilanian hit a monstrous 452-foot shot at Target Field in Minnesota off a sinker (91 miles) from right-hander Sonny Gray. The next day in Colorado, the Rangers outfielder stole third base and made 20 runs on the course.
In this way, the Cuban became the first Major League player to join the 20-20 club (home runs and stolen bases) in 2022. Last year, Adolis had a 15-15 campaign, but now he has gone way above and has the goal of joining José Canseco as the only players on the Island to reach 30-30.
But if this were not enough, the prodigious outfielder from Texas is immersed in a streak of 22 consecutive games hitting hit, just two short of the absolute record for Cuban players in the Major Leagues, set 28 years ago by Rafael Palmeiro. The Baltimore first baseman linked a chain of 24 duels with at least one hit between April 23 and May 22, 1994, breaking the previous record of Orestes Miñoso (23, between August 8 and 30, 1955).
Now Adolis threatens Miñoso and Palmeiro, after matching José Abreu (22, between August 16 and September 9, 2020) with the third best record for a Cuban.
Before this season, Garcia hadn’t hit a dozen consecutive games hitting, but he has managed to change history with a more consistent performance. In July, for example, he already warned with 11 games in a row of at least one rocket and now he has climbed to the next level. He remains to see how far he can go.
two cuban notes
* In his season back to the major leagues after a long layoff due to Tommy John surgery, Cuban left-hander Adrian Morejon has lived up to the hype with the San Diego Padres. In 21 innings of work, he has 19 strikeouts, four walks and has only allowed three extra-base hits against 87 batters. But the most striking thing is that the pitcher has nine consecutive games (11.2 innings) without allowing runs. In August, opponents hit him an anemic .186/.239/.209 line, and he’s lowered his ERA from 6.10 to 3.00 between the start of the month and this Friday, when he blew out two innings without major complications against Kansas. .
* Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays) hit a pair of doubles this week and reached 30 this season, leaving her record of 28 set last year in the rearview mirror. Yunito is the second Cuban with the most tubeyes in the course, only surpassed by his brother Yulieski (34), who exhibits the fifth best MLB record in this department. Lourdes Jr. has become one of Toronto’s most consistent hitters in 2022, though his feature-length production is missed (he’s only hit five homers).
