Advertisement

Bobby Abreu basks in afterglow of Erick Aybar’s first game as leading man

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Bobby Abreu stood in the on-deck circle in the first inning of Monday night’s season opener against the Minnesota Twins admiring leadoff batter Erick Aybar like a college professor admiring his star pupil.

Aybar, who is replacing All-Star Chone Figgins at the top of the Angels order this season, took two balls from Twins starter Scott Baker and then looked at two strikes.

Advertisement

The Angels shortstop then hit a foul ball, took Ball 3 and fouled off three full-count pitches before drawing a walk on the 10th pitch of his first at-bat of the season.

Aybar eventually scored as part of a two-run rally that started the Angels’ 6-3 win. He was almost as patient in his next three plate appearances, seeing a total of 24 pitches on the night.

‘It was good to see,’ said Abreu, the veteran right fielder and plate-discipline guru who is entering his second season as mentor to the Angels’ young players. ‘Every at-bat he was working counts, fouling balls off. He has to keep doing it. As soon as he gets more confidence, he’ll get better.’

Abreu tutors many of the Angels’ hitters, but he took a special interest in Aybar this spring, advising him almost every day about the transition from the bottom of the order to the top of the order.

‘One of the things I really lectured him about is, he plays the game kind of crazy in a good way--he runs the bases hard, plays the game the right way, yet at the same time he’s relaxed,’ Abreu said. ‘I want to keep him that way. Moving to leadoff is going to put a little pressure on him. I want to remove that. Just play like you would when you play winter ball. Don’t change anything.’

With help from Abreu, Aybar, notorious for his free-swinging ways two years ago -- the speedy switch-hitter drew all of 14 walks in 98 games in 2008 -- has changed his two-strike approach this season.

Advertisement

‘When I get to two strikes, I close the zone,’ Aybar said. ‘Everything close to home plate, you have to swing. Bobby helped me with that. I look at him when he has two strikes, and Bobby’s spot is little. I call it the Bobby Spot.’

--Mike DiGiovanna

Advertisement