Bryan Abreu: From Taxi Squad to High-Leverage Weapon

The emergence of Bryan Abreu was unpredictable, but perhaps more welcome than any other breakout pitcher for the Houston Astros in 2022.

Author:
Ben Silver
Publish date:
Nov 5, 2022 6:00 PM EDT

In this story:

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have the best bullpen in baseball by just about any metric: ERA, FIP, xFIP, K/9, LOB%... the list goes on.

A big reason for that are the blossoming talents of unlikely pieces coming from unlikely places. Enter Bryan Abreu.

His 1.94 ERA leads all Astros relievers with more than 21.0 innings not named Ryan Stanek. But where Stanek's peripheral stats indicate regression, Abreu is just as good as the traditional stats say he should be.

He's adept at preventing the long ball, he struck out batters at a better rate than any other pitcher on the team in 2022, and most importantly, he's especially good at pitching to lefties.

All this comes from a player who was just on the taxi squad last postseason, he wasn't even good enough to make the playoff roster. Now the 25-year-old is the Astros' relief ace.

Through 10.1 postseason innings in 2022 he's yet to allow a run, striking out 18 while walking four. His ability to make lefties whiff though, is perhaps most intriguing.

Many fire-balling right handed relievers have trouble pitching to batters of the opposite hand. Because they have only two primary pitches, left-handed hitters can sit on the fastball because they know they won't get the off-speed pitch that breaks towards them.

But Abreu has a secret weapon. His tertiary pitch, the curveball, is reserved almost entirely for left-handed hitters. He threw the pitch only 105 times in 2022, but 91 of those were to lefties. Of the 12 times an at-bat ended in that pitch, only two went for hits.

His versatility makes him especially useful to Dusty Baker and the Astros. Because they have no shutdown left-handed reliever, Abreu has become their go-to for dealing with the sluggers at the top of the Philadelphia Phillies lineup this World Series, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

Abreu's trajectory is only going up, and adding a ring to his already star-studding profile could make him one of the most valued relievers in baseball. Just last September he was pitching in Sugar Land, now he's pitching in the World Series.