On an something else calm evening for the Ruddy Sox unpalatably, Wilyer Abreu given a few pound in Wednesday’s 7-1 misfortune to the Twins at Hammond Stadium in Fortification Myers, Fla.
Coming into Grapefruit Alliance play on Wednesday, Abreu had gone fair 2-for-17 (.118) with a triple, one RBI, one run scored, five strolls, and seven strikeouts through his to begin with eight diversions of the spring. After tripling in Tuesday’s win over the Beams, the 24-year-old outfielder carried over that energy as he made the brief journey over from the Fenway South complex.
Beginning in right field and batting fifth for Boston, Abreu got the guests on the board to begin with by homering off Minnesota starter Joe Ryan with one out within the beat of the moment moment. Ryan, who had fair fanned Triston Casas on six pitches, got ahead within the check against Abreu at 0-2 some time recently advertising up an 88.6 mph splitter at the foot of the strike zone.
Abreu, in turn, penetrated the pitch to profound right-center field for his to begin with homer of the spring. The ball, agreeing to Baseball Intellectual, cleared out Abreu’s bat at a rankling 106 mph and had a dispatch point of 26 degrees. In spite of the fact that Statcast was incapable to decide how distant the ball has hit, it likely traveled near to 420 feet some time recently landing within the seats.
In spite of taking an early lead, the Ruddy Sox lineup was held in check by Twins pitching the rest of the way and eventually fell to 8-5-1 in Grapefruit Association activity. Abreu — who struck out looking within the fourth and grounded into a constrain out within the 6th to wrap up the day 1-for-3 — was supplanted protectively by Stamp Contreras in right field to begin the last mentioned half of the 6th inning.
Taking after Wednesday’s challenge, Abreu is now batting .150/.320/.400 with the one triple, the one homer, two runs driven in, two runs scored, five walks, and eight strikeouts in nine diversions (25 plate appearances) so distant this spring. All nine of his begins have come in right field, where he has however to commit an blunder over 41 cautious innings.
“He’s been putting together great at-bats,” Ruddy Sox supervisor Alex Cora said of Abreu when talking with correspondents (counting The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams). “Results aside, the at-bats have been truly, truly great. We’ve fair ought to stay with the method. He’s been swinging at the correct ones and putting great swings on it.”
Abreu, who is going to his moment spring preparing with the Ruddy Sox, is looking to split his to begin with Opening Day program after debuting for Boston late final season. The left-handed hitter was called up on Eminent 22 and made his big-league make a big appearance against the Astros — the group that initially marked him as an universal free operator coming out of Venezuela in July 2017 and exchanged him absent a small more than five a long time afterward — at Diminutive Maid Park in Houston that same night.
From that point forward, Abreu batted an amazing .316/.388/.474 with six doubles, two domestic runs, 14 RBIs, 10 runs scored, three stolen bases, nine strolls, and 23 strikeouts in 28 recreations (85 plate appearances) to kick off his major-league career. Among American Association new kids on the block who made at slightest 80 trips to the plate in 2023, Abreu positioned to begin with in batting normal, third in on-base rate, ninth in slugging rate, fourth in OPS (.862), fourth in hard-hit rate (49.1 percent), and fifth in wRC+ (135), per FanGraphs.
On the other side of the ball, Abreu saw playing time at all three outfield spots with Boston down the extend final year. The 5-foot-10, 215-pounder logged 76 innings in cleared out, 85 1/3 innings in center, and 7 1/3 innings in right. Inside and out, he posted two cautious runs spared and positioned within the 97th percentile of all big-leaguers in normal arm strength (94.7 mph), concurring to Baseball Intellectual.
With Alex Verdugo out of the picture after being managed to the Yankees in December, Abreu shows up to be the driving candidate to require over as the Ruddy Sox’ essential right defender in 2024. Cora himself recognized as much in a recent conversation with MLB.com’s Ian Browne.
“He’s a great player who features a chance to be the beginning right defender of the Ruddy Sox,” said Cora. “He controls the strike zone. He plays great defense. He contains a cannon. He can run the bases. Let’s see what happens. There’s a parcel of choices we need to make. The reason we have extreme choices is that we have great, energetic players.”
Abreu, who does not turn 25 until June, comes into the 2024 season ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 6 prospect in Boston’s farm framework. That’s up 12 spots from where he was final year. Baseball America moreover has him selected as the No. 6 prospect within the organization whereas SoxProspects.com right now positions him eighth.
Since he is still considered a prospect, Abreu has however to graduate from his rookie status. As such, he may be one of a few new kids on the block to make the Sox’ Opening Day list afterward this month, joining the likes of Ceddanne Rafaela and Justin Slaten, among others.
Like he told Browne, in spite of the fact that, Abreu will not be taking anything for allowed these next few weeks. He will instep be doing everything in his control to ensure that he is on the flight to Seattle ahead of the Red Sox’ Opening Day matchup against the Sailors at T-Mobile Stop on Walk 28.
“Although there’s a great opportunity for me to remain on the group, I do not take it for allowed, and I’ll work as difficult as I can to demonstrate that I can be on this team,” he said. “I do not need to take off anybody with a question that I can be a major-league player.”
