MULTITASKING

Jose Abreu had a great year for the Chicago White Sox.  He broke Ron Kittle's rookie HR record of 35 and finished high on the leaderboard in the main hitting categories in the AL, .317/.383/.581 with 36 HR's and 107 RBI's.  In the process he racked up 14, 18 and 21 game hitting streaks.  The Cuban slugger established himself as an offensive force in the American League.  Fangraphs WAR leaders for first basemen finds him in 3rd place with 5.3 WAR, only behind Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs with 5.6 and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers with 5.4 WAR.  He lags behind because of his fielding and base running, not because of his hitting.

Jose Abreu first career home run in Colorado.

The overall numbers were great but it was a tale of two seasons for the 27 year old Abreu, hitting .292/.342/.630 in the first half and .350/.435/.513 in the second half showing a very high batting average but a serious drop in power numbers.  He hit 29 HR's before the All Star game and only 7 after the break.  Some say Abreu got tired but Alexei Ramirez and Yoenis Cespedes under similar circumstances finished very strong in their rookie years.  His .350 batting average suggests he wasn't tired.

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ALEXEI RAMIREZ 2008	HR	AVERAGE
FIRST HALF	7	0.312
SECOND HALF	14	0.269
YOENIS CESPEDES 2012
FIRST HALF	9	0.263
SECOND HALF	14	0.311

Jose Abreu has an advanced offensive approach and should keep on hitting for good average and power. I don't think his 2014 season is repeatable because of his very high BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play).  He registered .437 and .439 in July and August when he had his hitting streaks.  His overall .356 BABIP is still very high and very difficult to repeat.  Both, Alexei Ramirez and Yoenis Cespedes had their best offensive seasons in their first year.  I hope Abreu doesn't peak in his first year like Benito Santiago, the Rookie of the Year in 1987 with San Diego who hit .300 and had a rookie and catcher record 34 game hitting streak.  He never approached those numbers the rest of his career.  Abreu might be in for some serious regression in his offensive output.  Some inside info on Abreu shows he hit only .236 on ground balls which he hit little over 45% of the time and .220 on curve balls during the season.  He hit .377 on fly balls.

So what can we expect in the future from Jose Abreu?  The power hitting slugger or the high average hitter.?  To fulfill expectations he has to multitask, hitting for power and average.  To be elite you have to be able to walk and chew gum.