CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bobby Abreu showed his emotions Wednesday when he said a nasty word or two to plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after striking out for the third time in four at-bats in Kissimmee against the Houston Astros.
Those words earned the Phillies rightfielder an ejection. But he had reason to be frustrated. His spring-training average had dropped to .181 (6 for 33).
"I'm just trying to feel comfortable right now at the plate, and right now I just don't feel comfortable," he said.
But he has looked better at the plate the last two days, going 4 for 7, including a 3-for-4 effort yesterday in a 6-5, 10-inning victory over the New York Yankees at Bright House Networks Field.
Abreu wants to keep that up as the Phillies aim toward their April 4 season opener because he knows how important a fast start would be for them. He also knows how important he is to their success.
In the book Baseball Info Solutions, John Dewan recently compared Abreu statistically to Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees' superstar third baseman. According to Dewan, Abreu created 139 runs last season, Rodriguez 112. (Runs created is an estimate of the number of runs a hitter is responsible for.) Abreu also had a better batting average (.301 to .286), on-base percentage (.428 to .375) and slugging percentage (.544 to .512), plus more stolen bases (40 to 28).
The book Baseball Prospectus recently called Abreu the most underrated player in baseball. But April hasn't been kind to him recently.
"I know the last couple [Aprils] have been a struggle," he said. "I've started slowly. I'm hoping this year is going to be different. I've been working a lot on my mechanics and my approach, and I'm going to be OK in April. I'm going to start to hit."
Abreu started last April hitting .108 (4 for 37) before finishing the month at .256. He hasn't hit higher than .284 in April since 2000, when he hit .354 for the month. A .284 average isn't bad, but for somebody like Abreu, who can hit .300 in his sleep, it's almost an eyebrow-raiser.
"Sometimes I'm standing too close to the plate," he said. "Sometimes I'm standing too far away. I've been working on those things, and I have [eight more exhibition] games to go. I'm just trying to make my adjustments and hope that I'll be OK in April."
Rotation lines up. Jon Lieber will be the Phils' opening-day starter against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Randy Wolf, Cory Lidle, Brett Myers and Gavin Floyd will follow him in the rotation.
