Red Sox Gold Glove right fielder shut down from baseball activities due to GI virus
Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu has not been able to ramp up baseball activities since coming to camp due to dealing with a viral gastrointestinal illness.
“Wilyer came to camp with a gastrointestinal illness,” a Red Sox spokesperson said Saturday. “It’s viral, and he wasn’t feeling well with some abnormal labs. Labs have been getting better, and he’s feeling better, but they’re waiting for those to get back to a normal range before baseball activity.”
Abreu enters camp coming off winning a Gold Glove and receiving Rookie of the Year votes. The left-handed slugger has not swung a bat or participated in any team fielding drills.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters earlier on Saturday that the team is waiting for Abreu’s labs to come back normal before ramping him up with normal baseball activities.
“The labs came in Friday,” Cora said. “There’s still something there. He’ll get another lab on Monday, and we’ll see where we’re at. Until we get the clearance from the doctors, we’ll stay away from him.”
With Opening Day roughly five weeks away, Abreu has plenty of time to get on track and be ready for the season.
Boston is expecting the 25-year-old right fielder to build off his first big league campaign. Offensively, Abreu hit .253 with 15 homers, 58 RBI, and a .781 OPS in 132 games. He struggled to hit left-handed pitching, hitting just .180 with a .533 OPS.
The Red Sox would like Abreu to be a more complete player who plays every day, but he will need to show he can handle southpaws at the Major League level.
“There’s a progression here,” Cora said earlier this week to reporters at JetBlue Park. “We felt good where we were last year, what he brings to the equation defensively. We cannot take it for granted. It would be good if he can play most of the games in right field at Fenway because we know how he plays it. We’ll see where we’re at. It’s still early to talk about what we’re gonna do as far as the personnel and who’s going to platoon and who’s not.
“We’ll try to see if he can face a lot of lefties in spring training. That’ll be good for him, and we’ll decide what we do.“
Abreu acknowledged to reporters that he needs to make better adjustments when facing lefties on the mound.
“That’s something I focused on, how to prepare to face lefties,” Abreu said Thursday afternoon through team translator Daveson Perez. “I didn’t have the greatest numbers last year, but I didn’t have a lot of opportunities. This year, I think it’s going to get a lot better if I have more opportunities against lefties.
“Last year was just a year of adapting for me. This year, I’m going in with a better understanding of how they want to attack me, what they’re going to do to me, and a better understanding of how to prepare throughout the year."
