Jose Abreu has been honored twice by his peers for his outstanding season.
The Chicago White Sox first baseman was named Sporting News Major League Baseball Player of the Year on Oct. 15 and American League Outstanding Player in the 2020 Players Choice Awards on Oct. 22.
Both awards were voted on by players.
“This award really means a lot to me and is humbling because it comes from my fellow players,” Abreu said in an Oct. 15 statement. “I never think about awards and my goal is always to do the best I can to help my teammates and the Chicago White Sox, and of course to make my mom and family proud.
“To get this recognition is a surprise and one that makes me feel very happy.”
Abreu, 33, joined Hall of Famers Frank Thomas (1993) and Early Wynn (1959) as the only Sox to be named MLB Player of the Year by Sporting News. He followed Thomas (1993-94) and Jermaine Dye (2006) as Sox players to win the AL Players Choice Award.
“He was a dominant force in our lineup and deserves recognition from across the baseball world,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement after Abreu earned recognition from Sporting News.
Abreu is a candidate for American League MVP, which is voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The winner will be named Nov. 12.
Abreu led the Sox to their first playoff appearance since 2008. And he could be in line to join Thomas (1993-94), Dick Allen (1972) and Hall of Famer Nellie Fox (1959) as the only Sox players to win AL MVP.
Here are four big numbers from Abreu’s 2020 season.
6
Abreu finished second in the AL with 19 homers. Six of them came during a three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field between Aug. 21-23.
He homered twice Aug. 21, a career-high three times Aug. 22 and once in the Aug. 23 series finale. With the Aug. 23 solo homer off Yu Darvish, Abreu became the first player in Sox history to homer in four consecutive plate appearances.
Abreu became the fifth major-league player since at least 1913 to hit six home runs in a three-game series, according to STATS. Hee-Seop Choi (2005), Shawn Green (2002), Alex Rodriguez (2002) and Barry Bonds (2001) are the others.
The power display was one reason Abreu was named AL Player of the Month for July/August.
22
Abreu had a career-high 22-game hitting streak from Aug. 16 to Sept. 9. It was the longest hitting streak in the majors in 2020.
He slashed .370/.414/.772 (34-for-92) with seven doubles, 10 home runs, 28 RBIs, 18 runs and a 1.186 OPS during the streak. Abreu had eight multihit and nine multi-RBI games in the stretch.
Abreu, who had a 21-game hitting streak in 2014, joined Hall of Famer Eddie Collins as the only players in Sox history with multiple 20-plus-game hitting streaks. Collins had a 20-game streak in 1916 and streaks of 22 and 21 games in 1920.
The 10 home runs were the most by a Sox player during a 20-plus-game hitting streak.
The day after the streak ended, Abreu went 4-for-4 with two three-run home runs, seven RBIs, one walk and five runs in a 14-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
60
Abreu led the AL with 60 RBIs. It was just the third time a Sox player finished first in the league in the category. Dick Allen was the first, finishing with 113 RBIs in 1972. Abreu did it in 2019 with a career-high 123 RBIs before repeating the feat in 2020.
He became the first player to lead the AL in RBIs in consecutive seasons since David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox in 2005-06.
Abreu also became the first qualifying player to record as many RBIs (60) as games played (60) since the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa (160) and the Cleveland Indians’ Juan Gonzalez (140) in 2001.
76
Abreu led the AL with 76 hits. He became the the fourth Sox player (seventh time) to lead the league in the category. Nellie Fox did it four times (1952, ’54, ’57-58), while Minnie Minoso (1960) and Lance Johnson (1995) did it once each.
Abreu became just the fourth player to lead the AL in hits and RBIs in the same season, joining Hall of Famers Jim Rice (213 hits, 139 RBIs in 1978), Carl Yastrzemski (189 hits, 121 RBIs in 1967) and Lou Gehrig (221 hits, 184 RBIs in 1931), according to STATS.
Abreu also finished first in the AL in slugging percentage (.617), extra-base hits (34) and total bases (148).
His weighted runs created-plus (wRC+) — which estimates a player’s offensive contribution in terms of total runs and adjusts that number to account for external factors such as ballpark and era — was 167, second in the AL to DJ LeMahieu of the New York Yankees (177).
Abreu finished fourth in the league in batting average (.317) and fifth in OPS (.987).
All the numbers could add up to MVP.
