Jose Abreu, the talk of the off-season for the Chicago White Sox is off to a good start thus far for his new team. There were many question marks surrounding Abreu such as how effective he would be in his transition form Cuba to the major leagues. There is a good track record over the last few years of hitters making the transition with guys such as Yoenis Cespedes and Yasiel Puig, who made a major impact on the Dodgers last season.
So far Abreu has lived up to power hype with four homeruns to his name already coming in two multi homerun games. With Abreu’s vicious and powerful swing, at one point this year he literally hit the cover off the ball. Abreu is tied for fourth in the league with Adrian Gonzalez with 14 RBI.
Abreu’s average has dropped down to .241 do to the recent cold streak, where he has only one hit in his last 14 at bats. With it being so early in the season it only takes two good games to get that batting average back up to a respectable level.
So far Abreu has not shown many weaknesses at the plate. He has handled pitches on any part of the plate, inside and out, as well as low pitches or pitches up in the zone. Breaking pitches have not a problem for him either as in one of his multi homerun games both of his homeruns came on breaking balls, showing he’s more than just an Adam Dunn who just sits back and waits on fastballs to hit out the ballpark.
Abreu is proving to be a force in the middle of the White Sox lineup. With Adam Eaton leading off and owning a .321 batting average, and eight walks already, he is really setting the table well for Abreu to continue to drive in runs. Abreu should continue to be an above average source of power and RBI’s for the remainder of the season.
It’s also possible that Abreu can get his average up to around the .280 mark, after all he was a perennial .400 hitter back in Cuba. If Abreu lives up to his potential as I believe that he will, he should have a season worthy of competing for rookie of the year, therefore making himself valuable on any fantasy team.