July 21--This time last season, Jose Abreu was tearing up the league. He had 29 homers by the All-Star break en route to 36 for the season and American League Rookie of the Year honors.
He hasn't exactly been a slouch this season, but he has just 14 homers to go with a .286 batting average on a last-place team that could use substantially more pop.
The White Sox rank last in the American League and 28th in the majors with just 64 home runs.
Clearly, opposing pitchers are adapting to the tendencies of the Cuban slugger.
"Pitchers are always going to make adjustments; he needs to make adjustments," manager Robin Ventura said. "He's kind of getting over that finger (injury) that he had for a while. His swing looks good. It's just being able to get his rhythm back and the timing of it. He probably made minor adjustments that weren't very good because of his finger, and now he's on his way to getting it back."
Abreu said he is preparing for the long haul this season, pacing himself better than he did as a rookie when he was adjusting to the longer major-league season.
"Probably in the way that I try to administrate all my energy, because I know now how long the season is," Abreu said through an interpreter.
Abreu has been splitting duty at first base with Adam LaRoche this season. And while he would prefer not to be the designated hitter so often, Abreu said he will do what is best for the team. He has made 64 starts at first base and 21 at DH.
"In the first half, I just tried to be a little more conservative with my energy, but for this second half I'm trying to throw out my energy on the field every day," he said.
Yet Abreu is 1-for-15 on the current homestand after finishing the first half on a 13-game hitting streak. He insists he feels fine physically.
"I feel much better right now in comparison to last year," he said. "The (All-Star) break helped me to recuperate. Also, I spent some time with my family and that's also important for me. It was good to have four days off."
When pitchers aren't trying to bust him inside, Abreu gets a steady diet of off-speed pitches and sliders away. He walked 51 times last season but just 17 so far this year.
"Sometimes I haven't done the adjustment that I have to do to get better results," Abreu said. "That happens during a long season. Sometimes you are struggling; sometimes you are good. The thing you have to try to find is the rhythm and the consistency for the whole season. And probably the results aren't as good as last year. But it's because of me. It's not the pitchers or whatever. It's because of me."
Abreu set the bar high for himself with last season's auspicious numbers: .317 batting average, 36 homers, 107 RBIs, .383 on-base percentage and a .581 slugging percentage in 145 games. He missed 15 games with an ankle injury.
"I don't feel pressure for that," he said. "I see them as reference to measure my performance. It's not something that I said, 'Oh, I have to reach that number.' No."
fmitchell@tribpub.com
