Phillies' star Bobby Abreu deserves greater recognition: steady outfielder wants to improve his productive play and help club capture a post-season invitation

Baseball Digest, July, 2005 by Jeff Berlinicke

AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES, Bobby Abreu is known--or unknown--as one of the game's most underrated players. Around Philadelphia, where Abreu plays right field for the Phillies, he's known as much for what he does off the field as what he does on the field.

Abreu batted .301 for the Phillies last year with 30 homers and 105 RBI. It marked the third time in his seven-year career he has gone over 100 RBI and the second time he's hit the 30-home run mark. He's established himself as one of the best fight fielders in the game and he's gone virtually unnoticed for a Phillies team that hasn't made the playoffs since 1993.

He doesn't get a lot of publicity despite putting up the big numbers, but the work he does off the field makes him very well-known in Philadelphia. He was nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award after the 2004 season, an honor given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities portrayed by Clemente, a humanitarian who died in a plane crash trying to deliver goods to Nicaragua after a devastating hurricane.

In 2004, Abreu made appearances for more than 35 charities in the Philadelphia area and, back in his home country of Venezuela, he dons a Santa Claus outfit every year and presents gifts to sick children.

"Things really aren't good there," Abreu said of his homeland. "You see these bad things happening on TV and you never know when it's going to end. I just want to do my part."

As far as his life on the baseball field, Abreu has been doing more than his part. He has quietly become one of the best players in the majors and doesn't plan to stop. He came up in the Houston Astros organization and never made enough of a splash to keep the Astros interested. They left him available in the 1998 expansion draft when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made him their third pick. Today, the Devil Rays could field an outfield of Abreu, Carl Crawford, and Rocco Baldelli, but they didn't see Abreu's potential either. One day after taking Abreu in the draft, they traded him to the Phillies for shortstop Kevin Stocker who never made an impact in Tampa.

The Phillies immediately named Abreu their everyday right fielder after a strong spring training, and he hit .312 in 151 games in 1998. He followed it with a career-high .335 average in 1999 and has remained consistent ever since.

He said the lack of recognition hasn't gotten in the way of his happiness in Philadelphia. He made his first All-Star appearance last season and is pleased with the way his career and the team are headed. He won the Silver Slugger award last season, the first Phillie since Lenny Dykstra won it in 1993. Still, he knows there is room for improvement.

"My numbers weren't really right," Abreu said of his 2004 season. "I was too low in homers and RBI. I could have done better and when you don't do better and the team doesn't do better, you can't be happy."

Abreu is signed with the Phillies through 2007, but isn't complacent. He has been accused of taking a day or two off during the intensely humid Philadelphia summers, but he said he is hungry for a pennant.

"I am always doing my best," Abreu said of his critics. "If I've done anything wrong, I am always going to try to make things better. Maybe people expect more of me, but I do the best I can. I'm never going to hit 60 home runs, but I can still do the job. I am working harder than ever and I want a big year and a World Series for Phiiadelphia."

Abreu has proven himself on and off the field. Now he wants to prove himself in October when he can showcase his talent to the baseball world.

Bobby Abreu File

Full Name: Bob Kelly Abreu

Born: March 11, 1974 in Aragua, Venezuela

Height: 6-0   Weight: 211   Bats: Left   Throws: Right

Notes: Signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Houston Astros
on August 21, 1990. Selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the
first round of the expansion draft on November 18, 1997. Traded
by the Devil Rays to the Phillies for shortstop Kevin Stocker on
November 18, 1997. Holds a career on-base percentage of .412
and slugging average of .517.

Year     Team           AB       H    2B     3B    HR

1996     Astros         22       5     1      0     0
1997     Astros        188      47    10      2     3
1998     Phillies      497     155    29      6    17
1999     Phillies      546     183    35     11    20
2000     Phillies      576     182    42     10    25
2001     Phillies      588     170    48      4    31
2002     Phillies      572     176    50      6    20
2003     Phillies      577     173    35      1    20
2004     Phillies      574     173    47      1    30

Career   Totals      4,140   1,264   297     41   166

Year     Team            R     RBI    SB     BA

1996     Astros          1       1     0   .227
1997     Astros         22      26     7   .250
1998     Phillies       68      74    19   .312
1999     Phillies      118      93    27   .335
2000     Phillies      103      79    28   .316
2001     Phillies      118     110    36   .289
2002     Phillies      102      85    31   .308
2003     Phillies       99     101    22   .300
2004     Phillies      118     105    40   .301

Career   Totals        749     674   210   .305