Astros insider: For José Abreu, a career milestone comes amid recent improvement

Seconds after the ball came off his bat and touched down on the grass in right-center field a few feet short of the warning track, José Abreu touched down safely on second base, putting the Astros’ first baseman in rarefied company. 

Abreu’s second-inning double in the Astros’ 6-1 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night made him the 21st active player to reach 1,500 career hits. 

Unlike when he hit his first home run of the season two weeks earlier, Abreu did not punctuate this accomplishment with an overexuberant celebration. He tried, at first, not to give it much significance. 

“I think it just means that I play a lot of baseball,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “I can’t forget about all those people that were by my side throughout that long time. And obviously, being able to do it here, I think it was even that more special.” 

He was especially proud to be one of 12 Cuban-born players in history to reach 1,500 career hits, including Hall of Famers Tony Pérez, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva. 

The milestone arrived just as Abreu appears to be turning a corner. In his first 54 games this season through the end of May, he slashed .211/.276/.260 with one home run, 20 RBIs and eight multi-hit games. His OPS was .535, and he had struck out 51 times with 16 walks. 

In 11 games played during June, Abreu is slashing .289/.313/.467 with two home runs, 10 RBIs and a .780 OPS. He had multiple hits in four of those games, including his 2-for-3 line Tuesday night. 

Abreu did not get specific about his improvements at the plate but credited his work with Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón for helping him see the ball better. 

“I think we can all agree and we all know that baseball is a very, very difficult sport,” Abreu said. “Everything, just kind of like getting accustomed and adjusting to the personalities here in the clubhouse, getting accustomed to the field, are all things that can take some time. And you know, for me, obviously, recently we’ve been getting the results that we’ve wanted. But just know I’ve been working with Cintrón every single day. I’m still not where I want to be, but we’re just going to continue working.”

In the previous nine seasons of his career, all with the White Sox, Abreu was prone to slow starts. In his career splits, March, April and May are by far his worst months for offensive production. Astros manager Dusty Baker and Cintrón have said they are well aware of this and maintained confidence in Abreu, as second baseman Jose Altuve did Tuesday. 

“I think the numbers say he’s a guy that the first few months he’s trying to adjust, and then he goes from there,” Altuve said. “We know he can do it. We’re not worried about him at all. He’s a big hitter who can compete in big situations for us. So like I said, we’re really happy to have him in our team, really happy for him tonight. And I’m sure that we can go up from now and take this team as far as we can go.” 

Between innings, the Astros commemorated Abreu’s accomplishment with an announcement over the ballpark public address system and a graphic that filled the scoreboard screen. 

His teammates joined the 39,546 fans in attendance in applauding for him. Standing just outside the dugout and clapping heartily was Altuve, one of the 20 other active players to have collected at least 1,500 career hits. 

“Yeah, it’s a big number, especially for him,” Altuve said. “We all know his background, his story. He’s a very humble guy. … We all know what he’s capable (of doing). We trust him, and the whole thing was really exciting and happy for him.” 

The appreciation was mutual. 

“I think that was the biggest reason why I signed here in this organization: because we’re just a great big family,” Abreu said. “And sooner or later, I think we were going to have like a moment like this, and I think today was one of the first moments that have shown yeah, this is why I signed here.” 

About half an hour after the game ended, Abreu had not yet retrieved the milestone baseball from the Astros’ clubhouse manager. When he does, it will join countless other mementos from his 10-season major league career. 

Asked whether he feels close to being the version of himself that he was in Chicago, where he won the 2020 American League MVP and was named an All-Star three times, Abreu was not ready to give a definitive answer. 

“Who knows?” he said. “Baseball is one of those sports that one day you feel good, one day you don’t. … Unfortunately, we all want it to happen fast, but you know, there’s some things in life that take some time. Some people wanted things to happen faster than others, but I know sometimes about the process. That’s why I try to stay calm, just try to stay patient, and continue battling every single day.”