MINNEAPOLIS – When Jose Abreu was hit on the left knee by a pitch from JT Chargois in his White Sox’s game against the Mariners on June 27, the first baseman feared the worst. The fear and anger were evident in the way Abreu threw down his helmet while complaining of the pain on the ground.
“Yes, I thought there was a fracture, because I couldn’t feel my leg,” Abreu acknowledged during a media session in the Target Field cave on Tuesday. “I couldn’t support my leg from the knee down.
“Thank God, it was not like that. I recovered quickly, but it was definitely a very scary moment. “
Over the course of the 2021 season, there have been several scary and almost unreal moments for Abreu.
Aside from the ball in the game against Seattle, Abreu crashed into the Royals’ Hunter Dozier trying to catch a foul fly from Dozier himself in the opener of a doubleheader on May 14. He suffered a left ankle injury two days later while running from third base to score the winning run. And on June 9, Abreu was hit on the left shin by a bat thrown by plate umpire Erich Bacchus as he tried to push him away for Jake Lamb to score.
However, after 85 games for the Bigfoot, somehow Abreu has played 79. The gunner is the spark plug for his teammates, as left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer recently pointed out to MLB.com, always fighting to stay on the ground and to help your team.
After he got a taste of collective success in 2020 after six years of disappointment since joining the White Sox, the fact that his team is at the top helps ease Abreu’s ailments a bit.
“Winning is one of the sweetest things an athlete can have,” Abreu said. “It’s something that motivates you and keeps you moving forward.
“That’s what you work for, because you want to win. It’s something I can’t even describe. If you win, nothing else matters. Not age, not pain. None of that matters, because you are succeeding ”.
Abreu faced obstacles in April but then hit .333 with a 1,057 OPS and 27 RBIs in May. He finished with a .182 batting average and two home runs in June, but in six games in July, he’s hitting .346 and slugging .577 with two homers and nine RBIs.
He’s entering one of those rhythms that propelled him to the AL Most Valuable Player award in 2020 and has made him one of the most accomplished figures in franchise history. At 34, and after dealing with various physical issues this season, Abreu still feels good.
“I cannot deny that I am already a veteran. Sometimes I feel a little tired in the morning, ”Abreu said. “But that doesn’t stop me from doing what I love. I wake up, go to the gym, train, and try to get ready for that day. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I just do things to show myself that I can do it. I don’t need to do things for others.
“My family is my strength. I come every day to do my best and honor them. I know I have their backing. It doesn’t matter if I’m in pain; I must be by his side. My mother, my wife, my children are everything to me. That is the way I can honor them; that’s what I know how to do. Also, that’s another way to thank and honor him. [al dueño de los White Sox] Jerry [Reinsdorf]. He’s done a lot for me and this is the way I can pay him back, playing hard anyway. “
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