MLB History: The best major leaguers to come out of Cuba
By Bill Felber
19. Jose Abreu, Cienfuegos, White Sox, 2014-Present, +18.7
Abreu began playing as a 16-year-old for his native Cienfuegos club, and over a decade averaged .341 with 178 home runs before defecting. Three times he topped 30 home runs, twice averaging more than an RBI per game. In each of his final five seasons in Cuba, he compiled an OPS in excess of 1.000, topping at an extraordinary 1.583 during the 2011-12 season.
Abreu’s star status complicated his ability to sign with a U.S. team. Eventually, he resorted to the use of agents — functional kidnappers – who spirited him out of the country and stashed him at a hideout in Latin America until arrangements could be made with an American team. That team turned out to be the White Sox.
Since signing, he has performed at the same level he did in Cuba. He was Rookie of the Year in 2014 when he batted .317 with 36 homers. He became an All Star that season and returned to the mid-summer Classic in 2018.
Through his first five seasons in Chicago, Abreu has hit 146 home runs, driven in 488 runs and averaged .295. His relatively modest 2018, 22 homers, 78 RBIs and a .265 average, was the worst since he was a 17-year-old in Cienfuegos.
The decade Abreu spent in Cienfuegos crimps Abreu’s position on lists such as this one by limiting his ability to build up truly imposing career numbers. So consider his big league averages: 171 hits, 29.2 homers, 97.6 RBIs, and the aforementioned .295 batting average.
He is committed to the White Sox for the next two seasons. Entering his age 32 season, the question going forward will be whether Abreu’s 2018 decline represents an aberration or the accumulation of aging.