While mired in the worst slump of his career, White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu received plenty of advice on how to turn things around at the plate.
It took a call from a long-time friend in Miami to help Abreu finally snap out of his hitting funk. Shortly after appearing in his second-career All-Star Game, Abreu’s phone rang and on the other end of the line was Marcos Hernandez, who has mentored the slugger for many years.
“When I was growing up in Cuba he was my hitting coach and sometimes during the offseason I’ll work with him,” Abreu said Saturday through a team interpreter. “I didn’t want to call him because I thought I could figure it out by myself but then he called me and he just told me, ‘hey, you are doing this, check the videos.’ He was right. It’s always good when you have the help of people that care about you and have cared about you for a long time.”
After struggling much of the first half of the season, including a 48-game stretch during which he hit .177, Abreu has shown signs of breaking out. Entering Saturday night’s game against the Blue Jays at Guaranteed Rate Field, Abreu was hitting .375 with three home runs and seven RBIs in his last six games. That upped his season average to .258 to go along with 16 homers and 59 RBIs.
“(Hernandez) told me basically just to keep my hands inside in order to hit the ball ahead and to generate more power and make solid contact,” Abreu said. “What can I say about Marcos? He’s probably the person who knows me best in baseball. I’m just glad to have him by my side and to also have all the guys here who are always trying to give me the best advice they can in order to keep my high level of production.”
Abreu also credited Sox hitting coaches Todd Steverson and Greg Sparks for working with him during his difficulties at the plate.
It is perhaps Abreu’s greatest attribute as a player that he is willing to listen to advice and use it to better himself on the field.
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“Anytime somebody goes in a slump, whether it’s pitching, hitting (or) running the bases, everybody has the answer, the solution,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “What is a sign of a true professional is being able to take away a lot of the noise and know who you can listen to and derive something that might be positive and impactful and putting you back on the right path.”
The soft-spoken Abreu said he is always in listening mode.
“I like to listen, especially if people are giving me honest advice,” Abreu said. “I’m not one of those people who thinks they have the absolute truth about everything. I need to learn every day a little bit more and there are people out there who know about things more than I do.”
In addition to heeding others’ advice, it was Abreu’s positive outlook that helped him through troubled times.
“I’m always trying to find the positives in every negative experience,” he said. “Even though the last two months were tough for me because of my struggles at the plate, I think I learned a few positive things that have helped me to improve and to move forward and try to finish the season as strong as I can.”