Thought we could do with a place to discuss Abreu's performance and progression.

 

His two fairly long cold streaks this season have been mildly concerning, but both contained some fairly hard-hit outs, and after tonight he's hitting 33% better than league average.

 

His at-bats can be incredibly schizophrenic, at times he has swung at absolute muck out of the zone and at others has demonstrated an excellent eye. He seems to be struggling a little bit with changeups, but given his quick improvement on his first-base technique, I wouldn't be too worried about him adapting. I've been pleasantly surprised by his range.

 

Got to be excited about what he can do power-wise when the Cell warms up.

Expect an up and down year due to acclimating to MLB and pitching.

If he can learn to lay off the off-speed stuff out of the zone he will be fine. When the count is 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 he is expecting a fastball and swings no matter what the pitch. Needs to learn to hit his pitch and not the pitchers' pitch. He seems like a determined guy so I am sure he will figure it out as the season goes along.

 

I also think his parents not being in the US yet and Avi's injury has been messing with him

Expect an up and down year due to acclimating to MLB and pitching.

 

This. He's just getting his first taste of American ball period. Expect some adjustment time.

This. He's just getting his first taste of American ball period. Expect some adjustment time.

The key is that the power is as good as advertised. The rest of his game should improve with time.

The key is that the power is as good as advertised. The rest of his game should improve with time.

He could hit some huge ones too. One tonight seemed to come off towards the end of the bat and still comfortably made it out.

Abreu will be fine, I think people are going to like his total overall numbers at years end as he is named AL ROY.

Edited April 21, 201411 yr by Soxfest

Abreu will be fine, I think people are going to like his total overall numbers at years end as he is named AL ROY.

I think they definitely would if that happened, because Tanaka looks awesome

Like what I've seen so far at the plate. He's another statue in the field, however. When the Sox become contenders again, this lousy defense thing is going to hurt us big time in big games. But as far as Jose the hitter. BOOM! I like what I've seen despite that 1-for-25 or whatever it was.

Like what I've seen so far at the plate. He's another statue in the field, however. When the Sox become contenders again, this lousy defense thing is going to hurt us big time in big games. But as far as Jose the hitter. BOOM! I like what I've seen despite that 1-for-25 or whatever it was.

Really?

 

He looked awkward stretching for a few balls early but seems to have corrected it. He also misplayed one ball hit pretty much straight at him, and got a silly interference call on a rundown. But I think he's showed some pretty nice range for a big man. That deflection he made tonight on Leonys Martin's single in the top of the 3rd was one not many first baseman would have even got a glove on I reckon. He's made some really nice plays on balls hit hard either side of him. Maybe a little less reliable with the scoops than PK right now but a big upgrade in range I think.

Like what I've seen so far at the plate. He's another statue in the field, however. When the Sox become contenders again, this lousy defense thing is going to hurt us big time in big games. But as far as Jose the hitter. BOOM! I like what I've seen despite that 1-for-25 or whatever it was.

Then he can DH. First base not the hardest spot to fill.

I think it's too early to make a call on Abreu's defense one way or the other. This ain't Cienfuegos, after all. The standards are different.

Abreu is quick at first but he seems to have issues with the most basic of things, it's kind of bizarre.

Defensively his footwork and his ability to dig a ball out of the dirt have been really bad, but they have seemed to have already gotten better. Offensively I am not going to complain at all. He seems to occasionally expand his zone, probably because of his ability to hit balls out of the zone really hard still. Abreu already strikes me as a guy that is going to be extremely streaky, where he goes nuts for a couple of weeks or a month, and then won't be able to hit a BP fastball for another stretch. I guess we will see.

 

All in all, I am very happy with what I have seen. He has flashed superstar potential, which is what I was hoping to see.

I think he's played better at first. If Miggy can do it, so can he.

He has to learn to take more walks. He does expand the zone . Expects way too many fastballs and looks to turn on them and has been outguessed a lot. Likes to extend his arms on the outerhalf of the plate and even outside the zone pitches away and up. Has looked better lately laying off the inside pitches. Have to be strikes to swing at those otherwise you get the weak grounders . Hge adjustment from Cuban league to ML but the guy can rake . He's very professional and mature so he should adjust well.

Edited April 21, 201411 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

he needs a nickname

Abreu is quick at first but he seems to have issues with the most basic of things, it's kind of bizarre.

I don't think it's that bizarre at all. That's pretty much what you'd expect if a guy has never been coached about the right way to do things.

To me I've seen a guy that will mash if he gets pitches to hit and once he gets acclimated to the pitchers a bit more. Seems like he starts getting impatient after he goes through the hot streaks and doesn't get the pitches to hit that he would like. Then he starts pressing a bit, swinging at pitches outside of the zone for awhile, before he regains his patience again and starts mashing as pitchers eventually have to pitch to him again. If he can retain that patience for an extended period of time, it will all come, but he's going to have to realize that pitchers are going to be extremely careful with him.

I don't think it's that bizarre at all. That's pretty much what you'd expect if a guy has never been coached about the right way to do things.

 

That's exactly what I saw. The fact that he has already made very noticeable improvements tells me that, along with how much he has seemingly improved in literally a couple of months in a major league camp.

He has to learn to take more walks. He does expand the zone . Expects way too many fastballs and looks to turn on them and has been outguessed a lot. Likes to extend his arms on the outerhalf of the plate and even outside the zone pitches away and up. Has looked better lately laying off the inside pitches. Have to be strikes to swing at those otherwise you get the weak grounders . Hge adjustment from Cuban league to ML but the guy can rake . He's very professional and mature so he should adjust well.

This is probably true, although his BB% is almost identical to Miggy's and he is in the top 80 in baseball in that stat, so not terrible. But when he's right, it really seems like he can tell a ball from a strike, maybe better than anyone on the team. Not sure I have objective evidence of this, but it looks like he is capable of laying off the bad stuff, which will really help reel the pitcher in if he can consistently practice patience.

I don't think it's that bizarre at all. That's pretty much what you'd expect if a guy has never been coached about the right way to do things.

He should be able to catch the ball no matter how he's been coached.

Before we started the season, I kept hearing that his bat speed was a little slow. If that is true, then he has probably guessing on more pitches rather than recognizing them. So he could be streaky until he learns to quicken his swing.

he needs a nickname

Pito, Oso, Yogi. Pick one.

 

He should be able to catch the ball no matter how he's been coached.

If no one has bothered to coach him the appropriate places to put his feet, that's going to impact his ability to catch the ball. We've already seen him start off horribly at that and seemingly begin improving.