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Chicago White Sox: Jose Abreu wins AL Outstanding Player

By Vincent Parise

BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 24: Jose Abreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox drives in a run with a double in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 24, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 24: Jose Abreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox drives in a run with a double in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 24, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /
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Chicago White Sox star Jose Abreu was named as the AL Outstanding Player.

The Chicago White Sox saw Jose Abreu have a fantastic season in 2020. He had the year of his life in the COVIID-19 shortened season which helped the White Sox be over .500 for the first time in eight years and into the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. It was a great year for him personally and he is being recognized for it in many different ways. He was named on Thursday to be the American League Outstanding Player.

This is a great honor for him as he did everything he can to get this White Sox team to start winning. He isn’t the youngest man on the team but over the next two years (at least), he is going be relied on heavily to help this team win baseball games.

This is the second big-time award Abreu has been handed since the season ended. He was also named to be the Sporting News Player of the Year earlier this month. Of the last 11 AL MVP winners, ten of them had won at least one of those awards and Abreu has both in his back pocket. There should be no doubt that he goes on to win the MVP award in a few weeks.

Abreu is the third player in the history of the White Sox to earn this AL Outstanding Player Award as Frank Thomas won it in both 1993 and 1994 and Jermaine Dye took it home in 2006. Those are two prominent names in the history of this team for different reasons so Abreu joins some elite company.

Why did Abreu take this award home? Well, to start, he led the American League with 60 RBIs in 60 games. That is a pace of 162 RBIs over the span of 162 games which is really remarkable. He might have not gotten that high in terms of RBIs if there were a full season but he certainly would have had well over 100. He also led the league in hits (76), slugging percentage (.617), and total bases (148). He also slashed .317/.370/.617 and had an OPS of .987. Those are all MVP numbers supported by his war of 2.8 in 60 games.

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It is great that Jose got to have a season like this. He stuck with the White Sox through the thin and thick of their rebuild and it paid off for him and the team. He got to play in the playoffs for the first time in his career and was awesome. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of what Abreu is able to do in his career.

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