Someone has probably posted this elsewhere, but @CodifyBaseball has a great graphic comparing Abreu’s performance this year and last. It would be nice to see 2021 too.
https://twitter.com/codifybaseball/status/1658535636662620161?s=46&t=_4W-U911mubCNOp4yJ1_OQ
That is some Dale Murphy level falling off a cliff
Father time catches up with everyone but that shit actually make me feel better. Can’t fall off that fast…that quickly right. Has to be some positive regression to the mean right?
Oh…now see MM’s post about Dale Murphy…nevermind, guess we’re fucked.
The only thing giving me any hope is that last year, he was bad for the first 2 months.
May 22 2022, slash line 208/294/340
End of season slash line 304/378/446
Mark DeRosa’s breakdown of Abreu a few weeks ago on MLB Network gives me hope. In thr video, he shares that Abreu is swinging with all arms in many cases and needs to get his back side connected in his swing.
For those not familiar;
87: .295/.417/.580
88: .226/.313/.421
And his remaining seasons were worse
I’ll take another one of those, please.
That is a simple fix if Abreu is buying it.
I’d like to deprive the Athletic writer of the satisfaction of being proven right when he rolled out these fall off stats in the wake of his signing by Houston.
There has been a lot of Abreu discussion outside this thread. All arms, no legs. I’ve read he’s drifting and not staying on his backside. For me the one thing I have noticed with Abreu is that he’s been consistently late. You always hear talk about letting the ball travel (get deep in the zone). Yes, I know it’s optimal to be on time, but from my limited experience in baseball there’s a hell of a lot more bad that comes from being late versus being early. When you are late mechanics can break down quickly as your mind tells your body how to adjust the swing to try and be on time (example: pulling right shoulder out early). However, if you are early you can still make good contact if you have a RCF mindset and work hard to be long through the ball. Of course if he is drifting that can be a factor in being late but I wonder if Abreu just needs to keep it simple and work to meet the ball out front for a bit and see what happens? Sure hope he gets it figured out. Other than MM’s post about the Dale Murphy cliff, I’m still holding out hope that his numbers have positive regression to the mean coming.
I have read that he and the Astros hitting coaches disagree on what the problem is.
Cintron in particular says he has a mechanical swing issue, specifically involving his hands.
Abreu thinks his swing is fine, he’s just having difficulty seeing the ball, specifically middle in.
I have no idea how they are working together, if there is any negativity.
My assumption is that Abreu is a proud veteran who has been very good for a long time and doesn’t really know the Astros hitting coaches well and that may be causing delays in getting to the improvements needed.
I have not heard any ( second and thirdhand) talk that Abreu is “done” except from fans.
Right shoulder? He is a RH hitter. If you want to hit to RCF, being early is not the way to do it.
Sorry, you are right…meant left shoulder.
My useless opinion……
I don’t think Abreu is “done.” But I also think that at his age he might need to realize that what has worked for him his whole career, might not be what works today. If the reports of his unwillingness to listen to Cintron are accurate, this doesn’t bode well for the Astros. It sounds like he’s inflexible and unwilling to accept help, and he doesn’t have much incentive to change his ways if Dusty is going to continue to trot him out there everyday. At a minimum, he should be dropped down to 7th or 8th in the order. If that doesn’t produce results, then he doesn’t play every day.
A lot has been made of his homer-less streak. I couldn’t care less about that honestly. He just needs to return to his .290-.300ish batting average and be productive. And he has to be willing to accept help ala Jake Meyers. From afar, it sounds like he’s unwilling.
He needs to put his change in his left pocket.
A leap across the Grand Canyon to say what Abreu’s attitude is. No one here knows.
Hence the words “from afar” which I thought made my speculation obvious. Sorry if you didn’t catch that.
All any of us here know for sure is what is published, and if that is true, it does lead ME to speculate about his attitude. If it doesn’t lead you to do so, that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that.
Did you not see the piece about extra time in the cage under Cintron’s watchful eye?
Reckless and irresponsible to say “it appears he is unwilling” when you do not know a damn thing about him or his attitude toward hitting coaches. That is the clueless fan equivalent of a talking head saying “Some say….”
