Lucas Giolito is making his pitch to Max Fried
It took a bit for many Red Sox followers to understand exactly what they had in Wilyer Abreu.
First was pushing back the well-documented sting many in the 2022 Red Sox clubhouse felt when then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom decided to move on from part of that team's heartbeat - Christian Vazquez - at the trade deadline in order to secure the services of two minor leaguers from Houston, infielder Enmaneul Valdez and Abreu.
Abreu went on to continue a decent year in Double-A, hitting .242 with a .774 OPS in 40 games at Portland. The following spring training, the outfielder was almost immediately sidelined due to a hamstring injury that kept him out for most of that 2023 exhibition season.
But once he did start get going in Triple-A Worcester in 2023, people started taking notice. Not only was he hitting, both for average and power, but Abreu was making his mark in the field thanks to a cannon of an arm and fearlessness.
Flash forward to his first full season with the Red Sox, and the doubts and uncertainty regarding Abreu have left the building. Case in point: Abreu was awarded the American League Gold Glove winner for right field Sunday night.
Abreu certainly passed the eye test through his 132 games in 2024. But he also has the analytics to back him up.
The 25-year-old, who totaled a 3.5 WAR, led all major league right fielders with 17 Defensive Runs Saved, while tying Milwaukee's Sal Frelick and Jackson Chourio for a MLB-best seven Outs Above Average.
Previous Red Sox right fielders to win a Gold Glove include Mookie Betts, Shane Victorino, Dwight Evans and Jackie Jensen. He becomes the seventh rookie outfielder to win a Gold Glove, joining Tommy Agee (1966), Lynn, Ichiro Suzuki (2001), Luis Robert (2020), Steven Kwan (2022) and Brenton Doyle (2023).