Bobby Abreu

Bob Kelly Abreu, or Bobby Abreu, is a professional baseball player currently signed as right fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of
Major League Baseball (MLB). Abreu was born in Turmero, Aragua State, Venezuela on March 11, 1974.

Abreu is also known by the nickname 'El Comedulce' which translates to "candy eater", which had been his father's nickname.

In 2004 as a Philly, Abreu capped the season with a .301 average, 30 home runs, and 105 RBI's. He ranked in the top five in five National League offensive categories: he was 4th in runs with 118, 4th in doubles with 47, 3rd in stolen bases with 40 (his career high), 2nd in walks with 127 (another career high), and 5th for "on base" percentage with .428. His performance in 2004 earned him a berth in the All-star game as well as the Silver Slugger Award.

In 2005 he continued his prolific run. He became May's Player of the Month and led the NL for some months in slugging average with .792, on-base percentage with .535, walks with 30, and tied for the league leaders in Runs-Batted-In with 30. He capped his 2005 season performance with a trip to the All-Star Game as a starting outfielder for the NL and a Gold Glove Award.

Philadelphia Phillies

In 1998, his first season with the Phillies, Abreu led his team with a .312 batting average and collected 17 home runs, 74 RBI, and 19 stolen bases in 151 games, with 271 putouts and 17 assists in right field. In 1999, he made a brief run at the batting title. His .335 career-high average that season ranked third in the National League and was the highest posted by a Phillies player since outfielder Tony Gonzalez hit .339 in 1967. His .446 career-high OBP was also third in the league. Bobby became the first Phillie outfielder since Greg Luzinski with back-to-back 20 homer seasons.

Finally, in 2004, he got his first All-Star berth, being voted in as the National League All-Star Final Vote winner in online voting on MLB.com. Abreu finished the season with a .301 average, 30 home runs, and 105 RBI, and ranked among the National League top five in five offensive categories: runs (fourth, 118) -- the third time in 6 years that he scored 118 runs, doubles (fourth, 47), stolen bases (third, 40-a career high), walks (second, 127-a career high) and on base percentage (fifth, .428). In 2004, Abreu also led the Major Leagues in pitches-per-plate-appearance (4.32) and number of pitches seen (3,077), was eighth highest in the league in total bases (312), and posted the league's tenth-best OPS (.971).

In May 2005, Abreu was honored as the Player of the Month in the National League, after he hit .396 and 11 home runs. He also led the NL for the month in slugging average (.792), on-base percentage (.535), and walks (30) and was tied for the league lead with 30 RBI. He became the first player in Major League history to hit at least one home run in nine out of ten team games. He was voted a starter in the NL outfield for the All-Star Game, finishing second in fan voting, behind St. Louis Cardinals Jim Edmonds. At Comerica Park - a field normally considered a "pitcher's park" - Abreu won the Home Run Derby as he set records with 24 home runs in a single round (since broken by Josh Hamilton in 2008), and 41 overall, topping Miguel Tejada's previous marks of 15 and 27, set a year earlier. Abreu's longest homer was measured at 517', the third longest in Derby history. After his power numbers dipped considerably for the remainder of 2005, into 2006, there was considerable speculation that winning the Derby may have had a psychological impact on Abreu.


New York Yankees

On July 30, 2006, Abreu was traded along with Cory Lidle to the New York Yankees for minor league shortstop C. J. Henry (a 2005 first-round draft pick), left-hander Matt Smith (a seven-year minor league veteran), catcher Jesus Sanchez, and right-hander Carlos Monasterios -- all low-level prospects in the Yankee organization. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin referred to the trade as "the Great Gillick Giveaway" and declared it "an unvarnished disaster." Surprisingly, the Phillies improved after the Abreu trade, and made a run for the National League wild card, only being eliminated on the second to last day of the season.

Abreu fit very well into the Yankees lineup. Abreu hit .330 with 7 home runs and 42 RBI as a Yankee in the 2006 season. Abreu and the Yankees ran away with the AL East division title by mid-September 2006, but were eliminated by the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 American League Division Series. In 2006, Abreu led the major leagues in walks (124), pitches per plate appearance (4.45), and number of pitches seen (3,056), and was second in the major leagues in percent of plate appearances that were walks (18.5%), and led the NL in percentage of pitches taken (66.2), and in walks per plate appearance (.181), third in batting average on balls in play (.375), eighth in on base percentage (.424), 18th in stolen bases (30), and 19th in doubles (41).

After getting off to a slow start in 2007, Abreu finished the season strong putting up 101 RBI, 16 home runs and a .283 batting average. On September 18 Abreu hit 2 home runs and had 6 RBI in a game versus the Chicago White Sox and Javier Vazquez. He finished the season with a .296 average, 20 home runs, and 100 RBI. He had the last stolen base in the original Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008.


Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On February 12, 2009, Abreu signed a $5 million, one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and was expected to play left field. However, after Vladimir Guerrero was moved to DH due to injury, Abreu saw more action at his natural position in right field.After struggling early on in the season, Abreu hit .380 with 28 RBI in 26 games in July, and was named American League player of the month. Abreu is the first Angels player to reach those figures in batting average and RBI in one calendar month in 12 years. The last player to do so was Tim Salmon, who hit .390 with 32 RBI in 27 games in July 1997.

On August 6, Abreu led off the fifth inning with a solo home run off Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks, giving him 250 homers in his career and moving the Angels right fielder onto an impressive list of baseball achievers. Abreu became one of only six players in major league history to collect 250 home runs, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 runs batted in, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases. The others are Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, and Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Rickey Henderson and Willie Mays.Though Abreu stated that he enjoyed his season with the Angels and is credited with helping many of the team's younger players to improve their swings and patience at the plate, he turned down a two year, $16 million extension on his contract on October 15.