White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu homered and knocked in three runs in last night’s 8-3 victory over the Twins at Target Field. In doing so, he became the first player in the majors to reach 30 home runs this season. The rookie slugger is also now is some historic territory.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Abreu is the third-fastest in MLB history to reach 30 career home runs. Rudy York needed 79 games to get there in 1937 while Mark McGwire got there in 84 games in 1987. Abreu needed 89 games. Ryan Braun was previously third on the list, as he got there in 94 games in 2007.
Abreu is also the third Cuban-born rookie to reach 30 home runs in a season. Jose Canseco (1986) and Tony Oliva (1964) are the others.
Abreu joined the White Sox on a six-year, $68 million contract over the winter and has quickly made that look like a bargain. The 27-year-old is first in the majors in home runs and slugging percentage (.610) and second in RBI (77). Despite all his success, he’s managed to remain pretty humble about it. Check out these quotes from Abreu after last night’s game, courtesy of Nate Gotlieb of CSNChicago.com:
“I knew that I was going to have some good results,” he said through Lino Diaz, the White Sox manager of cultural development, “but I definitely wasn’t thinking 30 home runs right away.”
“I am very, very thankful for the things life has given me, and this is one of them,” he said. “So I’m very thankful to be able to do that, and I am also very thankful to all of the people that have helped me one way or another to be able to do this, so, you know, all I can tell you is that I’m proud of it, and as long as we can keep playing good and helping the team, that’ll be great.”
