Jose Abreu has not had a good season. It is not a secret for anyone, not even for the player himself, however, as he himself stated this Friday morning at Minute Maid Park, however he ended the season on a good note, where he was able to perform as he is used to doing and hopes to extend that streak into the playoffs.”
The Cuban first baseman has been one of the most consistent hitters of the last decade, with multiple campaigns exceeding such respectable figures as 40 doubles, 30 home runs, 100 RBIs or a 900 OPS.. “Pito” as he is known by the Cuban faithful spoke with Javier González from our sister page Pelota Cubana USA yesterday and covered a couple of topics of interest (especially on a personal level) that we wanted to share with you.
I see you with a postseason sweatshirt. What makes this one different, or perhaps more special, than the previous ones?
I think that in the end they are different years, years that one appreciates throughout the career one has had. I think I have it in place because it is what I had to do, I came to this institution to be precisely in this position. Let’s enjoy this playoff run the game by game, because God has very interesting things prepared for us.
You have been Rookie of the Year, MVP, All-Star Game, Silver Slugger…, basically the only thing you have left on a personal level is to win a World Series ring. Do you have any other goals for this postseason?
Let’s play day by day. All the achievements you stated to me are no less true, and thank you for that, but let’s enjoy the game. As long as you enjoy the game, the game will give you good results.
José Abreu en busca del primer anillo de su carrera como bigleaguer. A modo personal, el cubano lo ha ganado prácticamente todo en este nivel del béisbol. Al respecto me comentó: pic.twitter.com/u7FYzP2zIX
— Javier Gonzalez (@Astros_Coverage) October 6, 2023
José Abreu went on the disabled list on August 9 with recurring lower back ailments. Until that moment he was slashing 234./291./343./634, with just 10 homers and 56 RBIs in 464 appearances in the batter’s box. He returned on the 23rd of that month and since then his numbers have increased considerably, especially his OPS which shot up to 845 in the last 31 games of the regular season.
The Antillean, however, does not want to justify his poor performance this season with any excuses. “As I said before, what I didn’t do during the first part of the year is absolutely my responsibility, if I was playing it was because I could. But that is in the past, I will try to prolong that success of the last part of the year and take it into the postseason.”
The Astros, who won the AL West pennant for the sixth time in the last seven years (including the last three consecutively), will face the Minnesota Twins of the well-known Carlos Correa and Cristian Vázquez at home tomorrow. Right-handers Bailey Ober and Justin Verlander will do battle today at 4:45 PM from Minute Maid field to kick off the ALDS series between Houston and Minnesota.