Abreu still in search of rhythm
Hard-tossing righthander has had mixed results this spring as he battles for roster spot
Spring training hasn’t quite gone the way Bryan Abreu envisioned.
Abreu’s first appearance came Feb. 28 against Miami. In two innings of relief, he allowed two runs (one earned), a home run and a walk while recording no strikeouts.
Then Abreu was placed in quarantine March 4 after being deemed a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Per MLB protocols, close contacts must quarantine for seven days and test negative on day five or later before they can rejoin their team.
It wasn’t the best start to spring for Abreu, and in his return to Grapefruit League action against St. Louis on Wednesday, things again didn’t start the way he hoped.
Abreu immediately allowed a single to Tommy Edman. After getting two strikes on Paul Goldschmidt, he left one out over the plate before watching the ball sail over the wall in center for a two-run homer.
“I just missed the location,” Abreu said. “It was 0-2, and I just threw it like a pop-up right there.”
At this point in spring training, teams are putting most of their starting lineups on the field to gear up for opening day.
Though the Cardinals didn’t start prized offseason acquisition Nolan Arenado, their lineup still featured the likes of Edman, Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong, all of whom contributed to St. Louis’ National League Central title in 2019.
The quick letdown against the Cardinals mirrored Abreu’s past issues against major league competition.
Abreu made his major league debut on July 31, 2019, throwing a scoreless inning against Cleveland before being optioned back to Class AA Corpus Christi. He was recalled that September, and he finished the season allowing just one run and striking out 13 in 8 2⁄3 innings over seven appearances. He even made Houston’s American League Championship Series roster as the Astros won the pennant over the Yankees.
The next season, however, Abreu didn’t sustain that success.
After baseball’s COVID-19 shutdown, Abreu returned to summer camp in 2020 out of shape, according to manager Dusty Baker, and, in turn, struggled. He threw just 3 1⁄3 innings over four games last season, and though he allowed only one earned run, that wasn’t the cause for concern.
The ability to throw strikes just wasn’t there consistently. Abreu walked seven batters and plunked two more compared to striking out just three. Only 30 of his 76 pitches were strikes. Abreu was optioned off the 28man roster on Aug. 6.
“He needed a break to get his head together,” Baker said the day Abreu was sent to the alternate training site. “Things can snowball negatively in the same way things can snowball positively. We talked to him, (and) he said he was thinking while he was throwing. It’s almost impossible to do both at the same time.”
Following Goldschmidt’s home run Wednesday, Abreu settled down in the way Houston hoped he would in 2020. He scattered three more hits over the next 2 1⁄3 innings and recorded two strikeouts on just three pitches each in the second.
The goal for Abreu is to make the opening-day roster, but there’s a logjam. He’s competing with the likes of Enoli Paredes, Pedro Baez and Steve Cishek for a bullpen spot. He might find himself on the outside looking in when spring training ends, so right now, those small victories he had against the Cardinals show he can be a contributor for the Astros at some point this season.
“Sometimes you see young guys give up runs early or a home run or a couple barrels, and they go to walking guys or whatever,” reliever Brooks Raley said. “Well, he never got off the gas pedal. He kept pounding the strike zone, and that takes a lot. It shows maturity. It shows the guy understands what he’s trying to establish.
“I know the result early wasn’t what he was looking for, (but) I thought he finished strong.”
Though he’ll likely start the season with Class AAA Sugar Land, the minor leagues have been a place Abreu has excelled.
In 287 1⁄3 innings since signing with the Astros in 2013, he has struck out 368 batters. That is an elite-level ratio he’s earned by pairing a nasty curveball with a fastball that can hit the upper 90s. (The stadium gun at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Fla., had him around 96 mph Wednesday).
If Abreu can prove his command issues are behind him, it likely won’t be long before the Astros come calling if he doesn’t start the season in the majors.
“There’s a lot of competition for guys trying to get called to the big leagues,” Baker said. “He’s been there before, and all you’ve got to do is, it sounds simple, but you’ve still got to pitch. This is a game of performance, and the greater and the more consistent his performance is, then the better chance he has to be called up.”