Abreu pulls himself out of early slump

Mamba · Apr 24, 2010

ANAHEIM --

Combine the fact that Bobby Abreu has played at least 150 games in each of the past 12 seasons and annually ranks among the batters who see the most pitches and you have a player who spends a lot of time in the batter's box.

But Abreu has not looked comfortable there often this season.

"At the plate? No," he said before Thursday's game. "I've been pulling the ball too much. You see my at-bats – two, three ground balls to second base, maybe a line drive to right field. That's not me. My approach is middle away. I need to get back to that."

Abreu dragged a .222 batting average into Thursday's game against the Tigers with just six hits in his previous 34 at-bats. But more troubling are some of the numbers within the numbers – a .120 average (3 for 25) against left-handed pitchers and only three walks total (compared to 12 strikeouts) for the patient Abreu.

"I'm opening up too much," Abreu said of his particularly uncomfortable-looking at-bats against left-handers. "I need to get my rhythm. I've been working with Mickey (Hatcher, Angels hitting coach) in the cages to get the right approach – focusing on hitting the ball middle away."

That approach worked Thursday. Abreu twice doubled to straightaway center field and added a sharp single to the opposite field.

Those hits sent Abreu past 3,500 total bases in his career, a total only 14 active players have reached.

"He certainly hasn't hit stride," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before Abreu broke out against the Tigers. "But he's still working counts like he does. Bobby is going to get his share of hits to fall in, that's for sure.

"Right now, he's not where he will be. He's not locked in at the plate but he's hit some balls hard with nothing to show for it."

Scioscia resisted any temptation to move Abreu out of the second spot in the Angels' lineup while he searched for his swing (even as Howie Kendrick provided a tempting alternative).

"When you talk about our lineup, a piece that's going to be real important in that 2 hole is going to be setting the table, extending the inning and feeding the middle of our lineup – and nobody in our lineup is better at that than Bobby," Scioscia said. "We're going to play this out a little longer with these groupings because they make the most sense."

Abreu said he watches a lot of video to confirm his diagnosis when he's in a slump and he sees nothing that makes him worry at age 36 about being able to rediscover his swing and be a run-producer for the Angels.

"I've been in these situations before," he said. "Once you figure out what you did wrong, you work on it.

"It's all mechanics. I still see the ball very well."
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http://www.ocregister.com/sports/abreu-245568-lineup-scioscia.html

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Abreu pulls himself out of early slump

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Abreu pulls himself out of early slump

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