Pito Abreu Wins His Third Silver Bat

November 6, 2020

The best Cuban hitter in the Major Leagues, José Dariel Abreu, has just proven the predictions right and won the third Silver Bat of his career.

The native of Cienfuegos won at first base in the American League, where all eyes were on him after a spectacular campaign that he closed with a .317/.370/.617 line and 19 home runs.

Pito led the youngest circuit in games played (60), hits (76), total bases (148), RBIs (60), extra-base hits (34) and slugging (.617), in addition to WAR for position players (2.8).

The big man of the White Sox had won this award during his rookie campaign in 2014, and then repeated the feat in 2018.

Abreu, who has three All-Star Game appearances, is also a strong contender for the American League MVP award, which will be presented on the 12th.

To date, the batters from the Greater Antilles had won 13 Silver Bats.

The first to achieve it was José Canseco, who in 1988 won the distinction as an outfielder for Oakland and later repeated it in 1990 and 1991 with that same team.

The controversial Canseco would win the award for the fourth and last time as a designated hitter for Toronto: this happened in 1998, when his countryman Rafael Palmeiro achieved it also as a first baseman for Baltimore.

A year later Palmeiro repeated the feat, then as a designated hitter for Texas, and one had to wait five years for another Cuban to obtain the coveted bat. Do you know who it was? Well, none other than pitcher Liván Hernández, who at that time played for the now-defunct Montreal franchise.

As time went by, Alexei Ramírez would achieve two trophies in 2010 and 2014, both as shortstop for the White Sox, and in that last year he would be accompanied by his teammate José Dariel Abreu, defender of first base in the Chicago nine.

The Cuban chapter in matters of Silver Bats is closed by Kendrys Morales, designated hitter for Kansas City in 2015; Yoenis Céspedes, outfielder for the Mets in 2016; and Pito Abreu himself, on the two occasions mentioned.