RADIO
Jose Abreu seems to be slipping a bit after he couldn’t replicate his incredible debut season of 2014. He “letdown” his owners last year with 30 bombs, 101 RBIs, 88 runs scored, and a .290 average.
Abreu is a powerful guy, and he seems like he has a safe floor of 30 bombs and 100 RBIs for whoever picks him. At first base this isn’t otherworldly, but it’s still darn good. Abreu walked less (8.2% to 5.8%) and kept his strikeout rate stable at 21%, but managed to bring his swinging strike rate down from 14.4% to 11.4%. Not good enough for you? He chased less pitches out of the zone (41.6% to 38.3%) and made more contact with pitches in the zone (84.7% to 87.1%). He also added a couple feet to his average fly ball distance, going from 305.45 to 307.79.
He now gets to play with Frazier's bat in the lineup around him that is due for positive regression overall instead of a guy like Gordon Beckham manning third. Abreu isn't one of the top three, but looks poised to be the fourth best first baseman this year.
