Whether it was clobbering three home runs in a game against the Chicago Cubs or collecting seven RBIs against the Detroit Tigers, Jose Abreu was always in the middle of the production for the Chicago White Sox this past season.
And now the first baseman is a finalist for the American League Most Valuable Player award.
Abreu, Sox center fielder Luis Robert and former Sox manager Rick Renteria were announced as finalists Monday for awards voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Abreu, Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez and New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu are the finalists for AL MVP.
Robert is in the running for AL Rookie of the Year with Seattle Mariners center fielder Kyle Lewis and Houston Astros pitcher Cristian Javier.
Renteria, the Tampa Bay Rays’ Kevin Cash and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Charlie Montoyo are the finalists for AL Manager of the Year. The Sox parted ways with Renteria on Oct. 12.
Voting took place before the postseason.
Abreu slashed .317/.370/.617 (76-for-240) with 15 doubles, 19 home runs, 60 RBIs, 148 total bases and 34 extra-base hits in 2020. He led the AL in hits, RBIs, slugging percentage, total bases and extra-base hits.
He’s the fourth player to lead the AL in hits and RBIs in the same season, joining Hall of Famers Jim Rice (1979), Carl Yastrzemski (1967) and Lou Gehrig (1931). He also is the first qualifying player to finish with as many RBIs as games played since the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa (160) and Indians’ Juan Gonzalez (140) in 2001.
Abreu’s highlights included hitting six home runs in a three-game series against the Cubs on Aug. 21-23 at Wrigley Field. He homered three times Aug. 22.
He had a career-high 22-game hitting streak. The day after the streak ended, he hit two three-run home runs and drove in seven in a Sept. 12 game against the Tigers.
Nellie Fox (1959), Dick Allen (1972) and Frank Thomas (1993-94) are the previous Sox players to win the AL MVP award.
Robert entered 2020 as one of the game’s top prospects, and he made a major impact, particularly in July and August.
Overall, Robert slashed .233/.302/.436 with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs. He was named AL Rookie of the Month for July/August, slashing .298/.348/.612 (36-for-121) with eight doubles, 10 home runs, 24 RBIs, 22 runs and four stolen bases in 33 games.
He slumped in September, slashing .136/.237/.173 (11-for-81) with one home run and seven RBIs.
Robert’s highlights included a game-ending three-run home run in the 10th inning Aug. 30 against the Kansas City Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field. The next night, he drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth with a double at Minnesota.
Six Sox players have earned Rookie of the Year honors from the BBWAA, most recently Abreu in 2014.
Renteria guided the Sox to their first playoff appearance since 2008 and their first winning season since 2012.
They went 35-25 and tied for second in the AL Central, but they lost eight of their final 10 regular-season games to slip to the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. They lost their best-of-three AL wild-card series in three games to the Oakland Athletics.
The Sox named Tony La Russa as Renteria’s replacement Thursday.
La Russa (1983), Jeff Torborg (1990), Gene Lamont (1993), Jerry Manuel (2000) and Ozzie Guillen (2005) have been named Manager of the Year as Sox skippers by the BBWAA.
The Rookie of the Year winner will be announced Nov. 9, Manager of the Year on Nov. 10 and MVP on Nov. 12.
The Cy Young Award will be announced Nov. 11. The Indians’ Shane Bieber, the Twins’ Kenta Maeda and the Blue Jays’ Hyun-Jin Ryu are the AL finalists.