A fair and balanced soliloquy about Jose Abreu, by ron

[harkness99]

If this is his worse slump ever and the team is able to weather it with an 11-6 record, White Sox fans should be thrilled.

 

Sure - but this thread was about his struggles.

 

Yeah its nice that we are winning and he is struggling.

[southsider2k5]

The days under .200 thing is not a relevant stat to a slump. You're just comparing early April stats to early April stats, not to whether he's actually had an extended slump like this. It would have been impossible for him to hit under .200 for the season in September these past two years.

 

Exactly. A higher batting average later in the season will hide a prolonged slump better. It is easier to see a slump early in the season where you don't have the large body of work to hide it in.

 

If you are batting .300 in 500 AB and go 4/40 your average drops only to .285. If you are hitting .300 in 20 AB an then go 4/40, it drops your average to .167, despite having the same slump. That's why batting average is irrelevant to level of slump.

[harkness99]

Exactly. A higher batting average later in the season will hide a prolonged slump better. It is easier to see a slump early in the season where you don't have the large body of work to hide it in.

 

If you are batting .300 in 500 AB and go 4/40 your average drops only to .285. If you are hitting .300 in 20 AB an then go 4/40, it drops your average to .167, despite having the same slump. That's why batting average is irrelevant to level of slump.

 

Sure, fine under 200 doesn't mean that much... I still bet Abreu in his entire baseball career as rarely been under 200... even early in the season. So yeah maybe it's not as large an issue as other things - but I don't think it's "meaningless"

 

 

However that was what I found before I had a chance to keep researching... and when I did from what I saw and the ARTICLE ON CSN CHICAGO found.

 

It was indeed his worse slump in MLB.... which was my point to begin with.

Edited April 24, 2016 by harkness

[harkness99]

including his first at bad tonight 6-53... .111 batting average.

[BlackSox13]

Jose should be sent to Siberia and be forced to work in the freezing cold till his back gives out.

This is a good idea but only if Rocky Balboa is Abreu's personal trainer.

 

I can see how there would be some concern for Abreu but an early slump is nothing to panic about. If Abreu is still hitting like this come June, I'll be worried. Imo, Abreu is merely in a funk, that's all.

[harkness99]

k if I post more about him not hitting hopefully that will make him hit...

[Jose Abreu]

Let's trade this bum.

[Bigsoxhurt35]

Silly silly silly

[chi4lyfe]

The dream is dead.

[ron883]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

[Jose Abreu]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

Abreu has never been able to lay off that pitch. This isn't some new revelation

 

[shysocks]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

That's the spirit.

[Kalapse]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

You're describing the vast majority of Major League hitters, there's a reason why pitchers rely on the breaking ball low and away, it's an incredibly effective pitch. But you have fun proving everyone wrong.

[lostfan]

You're describing the vast majority of Major League hitters, there's a reason why pitchers rely on the breaking ball low and away, it's an incredibly effective pitch. But you have fun proving everyone wrong.

i was going to post this nearly verbatim. It's like the whole point of a slider.

[southsider2k5]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

 

This post is disgusting. Most people who troll at least pretend not to get joy from misery.

[LittleHurt05]

Of all hitters that struggled with the breaking ball low and away, Alfonso Soriano is the first one that comes to mind for me. He struck out every time they threw that pitch with 2 strikes. 412 home runs later, I'd say he still managed to have a pretty damn good career despite that. I wish Jose the same.

[lasttriptotulsa]

It's kind of disturbing the amount of Sox "fans" on this board that basically openly root for somebody or the team as a whole to fail just so that they can say "see, I told you so".

[OmarComing25]

Funnily enough, his problem seems to be not swinging at balls inside the zone, rather than outside. His O-Swing% is the lowest it's ever been, by a lot (32% in 2016, 38% in 2015, 42% in 2014), so he's cut down a lot on swinging at balls. However, his Z-Swing% is also the lowest it's ever been (63% in 2016, 67% in 2015, 75% in 2014). So he needs to swing at strikes more, he's missing some good pitches to hit. According to Fangraphs he's also seeing slightly more pitches in the zone this year compared to both 2015 and 2014 (though Pitch F/X says the opposite). Either way, I think he actually needs to swing the bat more, not less.

Over the past two weeks, Abreu is hitting .308/.373/.462. As I said in this post, his problem has not been swinging at the offspeed low and away, it was always not swinging enough at pitches in the zone. Over the last two weeks he's still swinging at balls, but now he's swinging a lot more at strikes. After swinging at just 63% of strikes after the first few weeks, he's swung at nearly 80% of strikes over the past two weeks (numbers similar to his 2014 season), with great success. Abreu is successful when he swings the bat more often. You can live with him not laying off the pitches low and away as long as he's swinging at the good pitches to hit, which is what has happened during his current hot stretch. He currently has a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate, so he'll be fine. Keep swinging, Jose.

Edited May 5, 2016 by OmarComing25

[bmags]

Over the past two weeks, Abreu is hitting .308/.373/.462. As I said in this post, his problem has not been swinging at the offspeed low and away, it was always not swinging enough at pitches in the zone. Over the last two weeks he's still swinging at balls, but now he's swinging a lot more at strikes. After swinging at just 63% of strikes after the first few weeks, he's swung at nearly 80% of strikes over the past two weeks (numbers similar to his 2014 season), with great success. Abreu is successful when he swings the bat more often. You can live with him not laying off the pitches low and away as long as he's swinging at the good pitches to hit, which is what has happened during his current hot stretch. He currently has a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate, so he'll be fine. Keep swinging, Jose.

 

Excellent post, Omar

[Dunt]

Excellent post, Omar

 

Omar is one of the posters here that always kills it. Dude is a wealth of good information.

[OmarComing25]

Excellent post, Omar

 

 

Omar is one of the posters here that always kills it. Dude is a wealth of good information.

 

Thank you for the kind words.

[Chisoxfn]

You'll see, I'm going to be right. Abreu can't lay off the breaking ball outside. I'm going to bump this up when he is in a slump, and I'll bump it at the end of the year when he puts up his worst year yet statistically.

In his first two seasons, Abreu put up numbers in line with only Albert Pujols. Yes, I think you will be wrong. He certainly could end up being worse than last year, but if Abreu has a bad season, I'll be beyond shocked.

[Chisoxfn]

Over the past two weeks, Abreu is hitting .308/.373/.462. As I said in this post, his problem has not been swinging at the offspeed low and away, it was always not swinging enough at pitches in the zone. Over the last two weeks he's still swinging at balls, but now he's swinging a lot more at strikes. After swinging at just 63% of strikes after the first few weeks, he's swung at nearly 80% of strikes over the past two weeks (numbers similar to his 2014 season), with great success. Abreu is successful when he swings the bat more often. You can live with him not laying off the pitches low and away as long as he's swinging at the good pitches to hit, which is what has happened during his current hot stretch. He currently has a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate, so he'll be fine. Keep swinging, Jose.

You are an excellent poster. Always learn something new from your posts.

[ptatc]

Over the past two weeks, Abreu is hitting .308/.373/.462. As I said in this post, his problem has not been swinging at the offspeed low and away, it was always not swinging enough at pitches in the zone. Over the last two weeks he's still swinging at balls, but now he's swinging a lot more at strikes. After swinging at just 63% of strikes after the first few weeks, he's swung at nearly 80% of strikes over the past two weeks (numbers similar to his 2014 season), with great success. Abreu is successful when he swings the bat more often. You can live with him not laying off the pitches low and away as long as he's swinging at the good pitches to hit, which is what has happened during his current hot stretch. He currently has a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate, so he'll be fine. Keep swinging, Jose.

In other words, he has been guessing too much instead of seeing the ball and hitting it. This tends to happen when a player is in a slump.

[Heads22]

Omar is up there with CyAcosta in terms of posters that need to post more