A-1 BASEBALL: CIENFUEGOS TO CHICAGO

Jose Abreu, of the Chicago White Sox is leading MLB rookies in HR's (17), RBI's (47) and OPS (.900). The 27 year old Cuban first baseman has made a nice transition from Cienfuegos to Chicago. Hailed as the ultra offensive player coming out of Cuba, Abreu played a lot of baseball (10 seasons) with the Cienfuegos Elephants (3183 plate appearances) so he knows his way around the batters box. His last 4 years were his best (ages 23 to 26). The first 2 years (Serie Nacional 49 and 50) were played with the Japanese Mizuno 150 baseball (a ball so lively it seemed to have 2 rabbits inside) and the last 2 years (Serie Nacional 51 and 52) due to the league-wide offensive onslaught were played with the Mizuno 200 baseball (1 rabbit inside) and adjusting the pitching mound from 10 to 15 inches high to try to balance offense and pitching.

Jose Abreu at Minute Maid Park in Houston (zimbio.com)

His combined line for the last 4 years was the following:
PA       AB     avg    slg       HR   ab/hr   BB      K      HBP
1407 1044    .390 .815 117 8.9    261 160 90

His current MLB line is as follows:

214    196 .255 .592    17 11.5    12 59    4

Abreu was a prolific average and power hitter in Cuba with a lot more walks than strikeouts, and a great ab/hr ratio plus a considerable number of hit by pitches trying to pitch him inside. So far his numbers have translated with a 27% decline in his slugging%, 29% in his home run ratio and 35% in his batting average. His batting average and on base % are around league average while his slugging and power numbers are very good. His walks to strikeout ratio is awful going from 1.63 walks for each strikeout in Cuba to .20, (5 strikeouts for each walk). On June 7 he wore his first "golden sombrero" (4 strikeouts in a game) against the Angels in Anaheim.

Jose Abreu is a good hitter with a lot of power. He is in the best shape of his career. He will feast on comfort velocity pitches (85-93 mph) and comfort location pitches (center cut down and areas where he can get his arms extended). He shows an advanced approach to hitting going to all fields. He has 17 hits to LF, 23 to CF and 10 to RF. He also likes the home cooking hitting .305 at US Cellular in Chicago in 82 AB and .219 in 114 AB on the road.