No shocker here, but el capitán got himself a pretty sweet accolade on Monday, after one of the best weeks in Chicago White Sox history. I’ll hand the mic over to the White Sox to tell the full story:
JOSÉ ABREU NAMED AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CHICAGO – Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu has been named American League Player of the Week for the period of August 17-23, his fifth career weekly honor.
Abreu, 33, batted .533/.563/1.333 with three doubles, seven home runs, 15 RBIs and nine runs scored over seven games as the White Sox went 6-1. He is the second player in White Sox history to hit .500 or better with at least seven homers and 15 RBIs over a seven-game span, joining Albert Belle, who hit .517 with eight and 17 from July 10-15, 1998.
Abreu became the sixth player in Sox history to record back-to-back multihomer games when he hit two on Friday at the Cubs and a career-high three on Saturday, all in the sixth inning or later. He homered for a franchise-record fourth consecutive plate appearance yesterday against the Cubs.
Abreu’s five homers over a two-game span are a new franchise record, and he became the fifth player since 1913 to hit six home runs in a three-game series, joining Hee-Seop Choi (2005), Shawn Green (2002), Alex Rodríguez (2002) and Barry Bonds (2001). During the week, he moved past Magglio Ordóñez (187) into fifth place in White Sox history with 190 homers.
Abreu, who led the major leagues with 123 RBIs in 2019, is hitting .322/.365/.669 with eight doubles, 11 home runs, 28 RBIs and 22 runs over 29 games this season. He leads the AL in homers, RBIs and total bases (79) and ranks among the leaders in extra-base hits (third, 19), slugging percentage (fourth), runs scored (tied for fourth), average (fifth) and OPS (sixth, 1.035).
Abreu also has been named AL Player of the Week for May 22-28, 2017, Sept. 14-20, 2015, July 28-Aug. 3, 2015 and April 21-27, 2014. Outfielder Eloy Jiménez (Sept. 9-15, 2019) and right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito (May 27-June 2, 2019) are the most recent Sox players to win the award.
Abreu is also one of just 43 players in baseball history to hit four consecutive home runs.
Also, a reminder that while a jackass, Albert Belle was pretty bad-ass.
The White Sox host weak clubs — the Pittsburgh Pirates club for two games this week, then three over the weekend vs. Kansas City — so providing two days off this week doesn’t kill José’s mojo, he stands a chance at back-to-back POTW awards.
In personnel news, per James Fegan, the White Sox released veteran pitchers Adalberto Mejía and Bryan Mitchell, and added Zach Remillard, Danny Dopico and Kodi Medeiros to the alternate training site at Schaumburg. An actual intrasquad ballgame is scheduled this evening at Schaumburg as well.