José Abreu, a former American League MVP and three-time All-Star, is now looking to get his career back on track in the minors.
The Astros first baseman was optioned to Houston’s Florida Complex League team in West Palm Beach amid ongoing struggles offensively.
The 37-year-old Abreu is slashing just .099/.156/.113 over 22 games in Houston. He has not hit a home run and has managed just three RBIs this season. Abreu also uncharacteristically has 15 more strikeouts than walks.
Abreu’s struggles mirror the challenges the Astros are having thus far this season. Houston is 10–19 and in last place in the American League West, 6.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners.
The Astros are hopeful there is time for Abreu and the rest of the team to turn around their fortunes.
“We met with José on this, and we both agree that this move will be good for him and for the team in the long run,” Houston general manager Dana Brown said in a statement. “We are confident that a change of scenery and a new environment will help him get his rhythm and timing back. José is a team-first guy, and we applaud him for this. We know what this guy can do, and we’re confident in his determination and work ethic.”
Abreu had been one of MLB’s most productive players entering the season.
In 2020 with the White Sox, Abreu batted .317/.370/.617 and led the American League in RBIs (60), games played (60), hits (76), extra-base hits (34), and total bases (148). He also hit 19 home runs and finished with 15 doubles. He became the first White Sox player to win AL MVP since Frank Thomas in 1994.
Abreu signed a three-year, $58.5 million contract with the Astros in November 2022 and helped lead the team to the postseason over the past two seasons, including a record seventh-straight American League Championship Series.
Abrieu also got off to a slow start last season but he made the proper adjustments and finished the year as one of the Astros’ best hitters. He led the American League with 28 RBIs over the final month of the season.
Abrieu carried that performance over to this year’s spring training where he batted .308 with a home run and .919 OPS (On-base plus slugging) over 10 games. However, that performance did not translate to the early part of this year’s regular season and Abrieu will now try to get his performance corrected at a minor-league facility in Florida.
The Astros front office is confident that Abreu can bounce back from these struggles and help the team get back on track this season. Brown was impressed by the way Abrieu accepted this assignment to the minors with dignity and willingness to work on his issues.
“Jose Abreu is an outstanding human being,” Brown said. “He is unselfish, and he’s a teammate’s guy, and he wants to get himself back to what he was doing last fall. And so, in the midst of this conversation, you could see that this guy is passionate and determined to get back to helping his team.
“He unselfishly was on board with an agreement with going back to West Palm Beach and getting some extra bats, getting some detailed instruction on what we could do to get him back.”
However, Abreu is not the only superstar who will be out of a major league lineup.
Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout, who hit a major-league-leading 10 home runs in April, has a torn meniscus in his left knee and will need surgery. There is no timeline for Trout’s return to the lineup but the injury is not expected to end his 2024 season.
Trout is a three-time AL MVP and has appeared in 11 MLB All-Star games. In 2019, Trout signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels—the second-richest contract in the history of North American sports at the time.
The Angels are also struggling as a team and are in fourth place in the AL West at 11–19.
