CHICAGO -- With the Chicago White Sox rookie record for home runs already his, Jose Abreu was not in the starting lineup for Sunday’s season finale.
Abreu broke a tie with Ron Kittle for the rookie mark when he launched his 36th home run in the first inning of Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
Where it once looked like Abreu would be a lock to own the record, a significant power outage took the matter down to the final weekend of the season before the slam-dunk rookie of the year found the strength for one more long ball.
“I think we see great things,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Any time a guy gets into his first year and has the impact that he had, you’re very excited to see what comes of it. Just his mechanics, who he is and everything. You can sit here and say next year might be not as good, but with his work ethic and everything that he brings to the table on a daily basis, I see him staying consistent. I feel very fortunate that he’s in the middle of our lineup.”
Abreu headed into the final day with a .317 batting average, 107 RBIs, a .383 on-base percentage and 176 hits to go along with his 36 homers. All of those led the White Sox. In addition, Abreu’s .581 slugging percentage was tops in baseball.
Those numbers have provided a smooth transition from Paul Konerko at his heyday, to the next generation of White Sox first basemen. Taking over first base from somebody like Konerko has not been lost on Abreu this season.
“It’s very tough to replace a captain,” Abreu said through an interpreter. “Everyone knows him and loves him here and all I can do is to go out there and do my best every day and hopefully the fans will grow to love me as well.”
Outside of run production if there is a trait that runs deep in both Konerko and Abreu, it is modesty. Is there a leadership gene in both of them as well?
“I feel that if the team feels like I should be the captain of the leader of the team, I’ll take that with great strides and with much respect that comes with that,” Abreu said. “All I want to do is win as many ballgames [as possible] so we can have a championship here.”
Spoken like a true leader.