Chicago White Sox: What Does Jose Abreu’s Hot Second Half Mean?
By Ryan Schultz
Jose Abreu had a rough start to the 2016 season, but he’s turned it around in the second half. What does his strong second half performance mean for him and the White Sox headed into 2017?
The Chicago White Sox headed into the 2016 season expecting to be competitive in their division. Their roster had some major faults, but in what seemed to be a division that was up for grabs, they believed they had a chance to make the playoffs with that roster.
When they jumped out to a 23-10 record after a little more than a month, it seemed like the preseason assessment that they would compete was correct. From that point, the team bottomed out. They currently have a 67-72 record despite getting off to such a hot start, and they sit well out of playoff position in both their division and the wild card.
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While many factors contributed to the White Sox demise, their complete lack of offense really hurt the team with two of the top Cy Young contenders on staff. One of the players that really struggled during the first part of the season was Jose Abreu. During the first half of the season, Abreu slashed .272/.326/.430 with a below average 97 wRC+ and .158 ISO. His average and on base percentage weren’t completely terrible, but it was clear that he was struggling to hit for power.
Despite remaining one of the best hitters in the White Sox lineup through their struggles, questions ran amok about the Cuban first baseman. With Abreu hitting well and for power, the White Sox have a good core of players; however, the lack of depth on the team causes the team to crumble when even one of the core players is struggling.
It’s uncertain whether the White Sox will attempt to compete again in 2017, but it certainly seems that way from their past decisions. If they do make that attempt, the performance of Jose Abreu is going to be vitally important to the team’s success. His second half of 2016 is very encouraging for that reason.
During the start of the second half of the season, Abreu had his fair share of struggles as well. He went the entire month of July without a single home run, but as soon as he entered August his power stroke seemed to return. Overall in the second half, Abreu is slashing .342/.390/.573 with 156 wRC+ and a .231 ISO. With an OPS of .963 and ISO of .231, it’s clear that Abreu has really started to hit for power as this season winds down.
Along with those numbers, Abreu has also hit 12 home runs already this second half of the season. Heading into August with just 11 home runs and 56 RBI, it seemed like Abreu was going to finish a season with under 30 home runs and 100 RBI for the first time in his career. Since then, he’s hit 12 home runs to bring his total to 23 and added 32 RBI to get to 88. He’ll still have to have a spectacular September to reach those marks, but he’s getting a whole lot closer than it seemed he would.
What does this mean for the White Sox headed into 2017? Well for one, it seems as though the White Sox shouldn’t be worried about their first baseman. Abreu will likely opt in to entering arbitration and come to a new deal this winter, but aside from that the White Sox will be able to put first base out of their mind in the offseason. That is good because there are quite a few other positions they do have to worry about. If they want to compete in 2017, they will need to make sizable upgrades with at least one outfielder, a designated hitter, and at catcher.
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Jose Abreu becoming the player he was in 2015 doesn’t make the White Sox automatic contenders; however, he makes it much easier for the White Sox to have a plan going forward. Now that his struggles appear to be behind him for the time being, he is back to being part of the very talented core of cheap players the White Sox have accumulated. If they can properly supplement that core in a weak free agent class this winter, they might just make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.