Chicago White Sox: Please stop beaning Jose Abreu

Jose Abreu is one of the greatest players in the history of the Chicago White Sox. He was the American League Most Valuable Player in 2020 because of his brilliance and he has carried that into 2021. He won’t win MVP but he is one of the best players on this White Sox team that is cruising into the playoffs. He is in the mix for another RBI title which would be his third straight.

When you are this good of a hitter, teams game plan for you. Clearly, the scouting report on Abreu is that you have a better chance of getting him out if you throw it inside. That is fair as a lot of the great hitters in baseball are pitched inside. If you don’t do that, these guys can put the ball in the upper deck.

Unfortunately, when you are pitched inside as much as Abreu is, there is a chance that you are beaned. Abreu has been beaned 19 times this season which is the third-most in Major League Baseball. It is very annoying to watch. There are lots of pitches that come very close to hitting him as well and those don’t make you feel good either.

Luckily, none of these have hit him in a way where he has been injured for a significant amount of time. However, the 19th beanball for Abreu came on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels and it left a huge bruise. You could see it bruising on his arm as he stood on first base right in front of your eyes. That is not what people want to see for the superstar first baseman.

It would be nice to see Jose Abreu stop getting hit by opposing pitchers in 2021.

Of course, nobody thinks that any one of these pitchers is doing this on purpose. They are just trying to get one of the most damaging players in all of baseball out. However, it is time for the White Sox to say something about this. They don’t need Abreu getting hurt so it would be nice to see them say publically that this can’t continue to happen.

Abreu is too nice to do anything about it so pitchers aren’t scared to run him inside. It would be interesting to hear Tony La Russa say something about it at some point. You never want these things to get ugly or lead to injury so making sure the bean numbers come down is key. Again, please stop beating Jose Abreu.