By Juan Páez
José Abreu hit a tremendous bump on his way to the AL RBI lead for the third year in a row. Not only Salvador Pérez went ahead and extended his advantage in the day of this MondayRather, the Cuban first baseman maintained a significant trailer drought, the second longest in the 2021 Major League Baseball season.
Perez, catcher for the Kansas City Royals, ranks first in the department, with 117. This Monday, he reached that mark thanks to two charters against the Cleveland Indians. In the case of Abreu, Pito remains at 113. And although Pérez’s partial victory does not have to have defining overtones, time is running out for the Cienfuegos pounder, as Abreu and the Chicago White Sox have five games left before the end of the round regular.
The Cuban, who ranks second in all the majors, reached his current mark on September 19 and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before he smoothly secured his third consecutive lead in that box. But currently, after the Whitelegs’ win on Monday, Abreu has six games in a row without even a run produced.
This chain is the longest for him in the present campaign since the beginning of the harvest. Between April 7 and April 15, the slugger passed seven challenges without opening the fabricated stripe key. This has been a more than complicated month for him, at least in relation to the previous thirty years. In September, Abreu has just 11 RBIs in 22 games. For you to have a reference and measure the driving slump that Pito is on, that same amount was achieved in his last 10 games of August.
Next, José Abreu’s RBI figures month by month in the 2021 season:
April: 19 CI, 25 J
May: 27 CI, 25 J
June: 8 CI, 23 J
July: 23 CI, 25 J
August: 25 CI, 28 J
September: 11 CI, 21 J
A different story lives Teoscar Hernández, who stalks Abreu from third place, with 112 manufactured. The Dominican has 26 produced in 25 games played in the ninth month of the year. If the White Sox first baseman doesn’t pick up the pace, he could be outmaneuvered by Hernandez of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Luckily, Abreu’s remaining games (784 RBIs) ahead are against the Cincinnati Reds (2) and the Detroit Tigers (3). Both rivals are accessible in terms of pitching and Pito could take advantage of that case to have a good season finale that allows him to become the first Cuban and the first Whiteleg player to lead his league in RBIs three times in his career.