Chicago White Sox: Jose Abreu’s slump may be over
In 2020, Jose Abreu won the American League MVP and the Chicago White Sox ended a 12-year playoff gap. That doesn’t seem to be much of a coincidence as we all know how important he is to this organization. He has gotten off to a slow start to this 2021 season but we all knew he would break out of the slump soon. He might have done that in Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians.
The Chicago White Sox needs Jose Abreu to be at his best during the 2021 season.
For one night, Abreu was the team’s designated hitter. Yermin Mercedes and Andrew Vaugh split the playing time at Abreu’s natural position of first base. That seems to have woke him up as he had his best game of the season at the plate. Hopefully, this great game was just enough to get off the slide that he was on. We all know what he is capable of when he is on his game.
Abreu went 3 for 4 in what was a very good game for him. He also had three runs scored and three RBIs on those three hits. Two of the three left the ballpark for his third and fourth home runs of the season. If his bat starts to get really hot, you can point to this game as the one that got him feeling good about himself.
What does Jose Abreu have to do from here to keep going forward? The answer is simple, keep doing what he is doing. Abreu has been a top-five hitter in the MLB over the last few seasons so whatever he does to make himself successful is what he should keep doing.
He certainly has a lot of talent around him right now. Guys like Tim Anderson and Luis Robert are really smacking the ball. Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal also had really good nights at the plate and we can only hope that they all continue to hit.
This lineup is less lethal without the services of Eloy Jimenez but he will be back and once he is the league is in trouble. That was the 18th career time that Abreu has a multi-home run game. He Only trails Frank Thomas (26) and Paul Konerko (29) for the most in team history. More importantly, getting out of the slump could mean that some pretty big things are ahead for the team as a whole.