How Abreu returned to MVPito form in the month of May

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The month of April is rarely kind to José Abreu, but April 2021 reigned a special kind of hellfire upon him.

That was dramatic. But the first four weeks of the season were forgettable, at best, for the American League MVP, whose slash line at the end of the month stood at .213/.296/.394. Somehow, he still racked up enough RBI (19) for the 11th ranked spot in the majors because that’s just what MVPs do, I guess.

Per usual, though, as the weather heated up (or at least went from 40 degrees to 50...), so did Abreu – and in a massive, MVP-campaign type of way.

The first baseman’s slash line in May was .342/.432/.658, which raised his overall season slash to .272/.360/.514.

He leads Major League Baseball in RBI (45) and is on pace for a career-high of 140. For the record, if you drive in 140 runs in a season, you are undoubtedly the MVP.

None of this is surprising, but it’s especially noteworthy when you step back and look at the story of the 2021 White Sox thus far. Abreu’s batting average has gone down after a game only twice since May 5, which is right around the time the White Sox hit full velocity with a glorious sweep of Kansas City that kickstarted their longest winning streak of the season. In other words, when Pito got hot, so did the wins column.

Sure, the reigning MVP playing well isn’t exactly ground-breaking sports journalism, but even the best of the best deserve a shout out every once in a while. Because while there are sexier storylines on the South Side than Abreu being good at baseball, it’s a narrative that absolutely no one is tired of.

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