José Abreu puts White Sox on his back, then lifts with his legs

It’s only mid-May, but there’s a very good chance that José Abreu once again defined his season by a play he made with his legs.

Last year, it was his run-scoring two-out infield single against the Twins that tied the game and put the Sox in position to clinch their first postseason berth since 2008.

On Sunday, he scored the walk-off run by steaming home on a pitch that bounced in the dirt, but barely left it.

The team context isn’t as crucial. Rather than an October-clinching triumph during the last two weeks of September, the play merely salvaged a first-half split against a third-place team.

The personal context is what gives it heft. Three games before, Abreu had to be helped off the field after he and Hunter Dozier crashed into each other at full speed on the first-base line. He still showed some of the damage from the collision when he returned to the field a day later, wearing a bandage on his cheek and making the sign of the cross after every successful catch of a pop-up.

The visual damage to his face put a little Paul Konerko in his triumph, as Konerko had a knack for answering personal injury by dealing out his own kind of on-field pain (and Abreu even reached on an HBP). But while Abreu is a continuation of the White Sox’s proud tradition at first base established by Konerko and Frank Thomas since 1990, he’s tapped into a deeper well of athleticism that puts his own stamp on the position.

Hell, even Yoán Moncada, by all accounts younger, faster, and sleeker than Abreu, might look at Abreu and wonder how he can get some of what his mentor’s got. Twice over the weekend, Moncada tried to generate the same kind of magic with his legs, and he came up short both times.

On Saturday, he tried to extend the game after Leury García’s 12-pitch walk, but his bid for his own valiant infield single resulted in a face full of dirt.

On Sunday, he tried to score the winning run on Yermín Mercedes’ single one batter earlier, blasting through Joe McEwing’s stop sign. He ended up on the wrong side of his calculated risk and ended up with a face full of Cam Gallagher’s mitt.

Per Statcast’s sprint speed metric, Abreu is reliably slower than Moncada by a foot a second. That foot a second matters when Abreu’s in one of those ruts that generates a league-leading amount of double plays, but like every other shortcoming in his game, he has a way of suspending those concerns with an incredible array of moments that forces fans to put faith in his vision.

Why will he swing at a pitch out of the zone? Because he thinks it will help, and oh look, he’s one off the RBI lead in 2021 after taking the titles in each of the last two seasons. Why did he bolt for home when this was awaiting him?

Because he saw this result on the other side.

Now, was Abreu actually safe? Royals manager Mike Matheny was so certain Abreu was out that he alleged some kind of greater integrity issue afoot.

Abreu’s teammates didn’t take such a strenuous position to the contrary. Instead, they reveled in the gray area. Maybe Abreu wasn’t safe, but he also wasn’t out.

When broached on the topic, multiple White Sox treated it with a knowing smirk: as if they knew the truth, but would rather not ruin the poetry of their leader charging forward to claim victory when there should have been no opportunity for it. Maybe that carried the day in the replay review, as well.

“Yeah … we’ll take that,” said Cease after a pause.

“They said he was safe, they even gave it replay,” Eaton said with a smile.

The room for interpretation makes Abreu’s dash reminiscent of another unconventional White Sox artist. If Doug Eddings denied A.J. Pierzynski’s attempt to take first base on his strikeout in the ninth inning of Game 2 in the 2005 ALCS, it wouldn’t have been seen as a grave injustice. Likewise, if Edwin Moscoso called Abreu out at the plate, I don’t think the visual evidence on hand would have been enough to overturn it. We would’ve instead been likening Abreu’s failed bid for glory to his out at the plate in the Vince Velasquez Game.

Instead, Abreu’s foot speed followed Pierzynski’s footsteps in leaving a Manager Mike in the other dugout to rail and flail at an unfair system, as though Abreu taped a photo of himself being safe over the lens of every camera that would’ve proven otherwise.

Abreu can occasionally bend games to his will like this. Sometimes it gives him the confidence to force action that isn’t nearly as successful, but where you might see a lack of discipline, others see courage. He hasn’t had much in the way of support over his entire White Sox career, and even as the rebuild is supposed to be cresting, injuries and design flaws have resulted in a lineup that can be neutralized by decent right-handed pitchers. The team is resigned-yet-comfortable in relying on Abreu an uncomfortable amount, and if there’s a way he can win them a game, everybody’s going to give him the room to let him try. Apparently he only needs a little bit.

(Photo by Matt Marton / USA TODAY Sports)

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