The White Sox finally got some good news this week with Jose Abreu winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award on Thursday.
Abreu beat out the Indians’ Jose Ramirez and the Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu to give the Sox their fifth MVP winner. Previous Sox MVPs were second baseman Nellie Fox in 1959 and first basemen Dick Allen in 1972 and Frank Thomas in 1993 and 1994.
Abreu, who won the Silver Slugger award last week, led the AL with 60 RBI. His 19 home runs ranked second to the 22 by the Yankees’ Luke Voit and his .317 batting average was fourth trailed only LeMahieu (.364), Sox teammate Tim Anderson (.322) and the Angels’ David Fletcher (.319) in the American League.
Abreu received 21 of 30 first-place votes and 374 points in BBWAA balloting. Ramirez had eight first place votes and 303 points and LeMahieu had one first place vote 230 points.
“You can dream about it but you can’t imagine the feeling,” Abreu, trying to collect himself on MLB Network after the announcement.
Anderson was seventh in voting.
The award is a bit of good news for a franchise that’s been caught up in controversy this week. New manager Tony La Russa is facing DUI charges and the team is dealing with criticism from fans and the media for hiring the 76-year-old.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God for this blessing,” Abreu said. “It is very special to win this award and even more doing it this year with all the adversities and challenges we faced. I feel extremely honored and humbled. I’ve worked hard for this, and even though I don’t focus on winning awards, getting this one just feels like a recognition to all the work, all the effort I’ve been doing during my whole career to get to this point. Now, my mom can really say that she has an MVP as a son, and she can keep saying that I am her MVP.
“This award is for my family, for [chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] and the Chicago White Sox organization who gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues and made my mom’s dream come true. To the fans and to all my coaches, teammates and everyone who has helped me and supported me, this is for you too. Thank you also to all the writers who voted for me.”
