Dennys Abreu

Dennys Neomar Abreu Vazquez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 203 lb.

• Born April 22, 1978 in Maracay, Aragua Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dennys Abreu has had the second-best career of the Abreu brothers, behind Bobby Abreu and ahead of Nelson Abreu and Nielsen Abreu. Dennys played as high as AAA in a career that had lasted over 15 years. Six times, he has hit .300 or higher, and he has won two batting titles.

Abreu debuted in 1995, hitting .285 for the DSL Cubs/Padres. In '96, he came stateside to bat .313/.384/.339 for the GCL Cubs. He stole 35 bases in 44 tries. He was 7th in the Gulf Coast League in average, between Jorge Meran and Israel Polonia, and tied Luis Rivas for the most steals. The next season, the teenaged infielder put up a .321/.386/.379 line with 36 steals (but caught 26 times) for the Rockford Cubbies. He led the Midwest League in times gunned down stealing but also was 5th in average, right behind Brady Clark. He again failed to win All-Star honors in his league as the more powerful Brent Butler got the nod at short.

The Maracay native then hit stagnation. In 1998, he fell to .260/.304/.329 for the Daytona Cubs, with 87 runs and 23 steals in 37 tries. He also made 56 errors at short, fielding only .912. He was fourth in all of minor league baseball in miscues, trailing Troy Cameron (66), Michael Cuddyer (61) and Danny Sandoval (57) and one ahead of another Florida State League shortstop, Rivas. Returning to Daytona in 1999, he hit even worse (.257/.286/.310) though he was more successful on the bases (29 SB, 9 CS). Moving to second base, he fielded .953 with 22 errors.

Dennys split 2000 between Daytona (.322/.360/.407 in 39 G) and the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (.241/.292/.337 in 52 G). He was again with two teams in '01, West Tenn (.254/.299/.317, 14 for 18 in steal attempts) and the Iowa Cubs (6 for 12, 2B). At age 23, he was a utility infielder for the Diamond Jaxx, with 35-36 games at second base, shortstop and third base. He hit .286/.328/.400, stole 18 bases in 32 tries and made 19 errors.

Abreu bounced around in 2003, playing in the St. Louis Cardinals chain and in the independent leagues. He appeared for the Tennessee Smokies (.250/.298/.365 in 18 G), Palm Beach Cardinals (.216/.264/.328 in 32 G) and Elmira Pioneers (.341/.365/.431 in 58 G). He led the Northeast League in average, 3 points ahead of Vic Davilla. In 2004, Abreu hit .306/.354/.475 for Elmira.

In 2006, Abreu was back in the indies, putting up a .323/.378/.505 line with a career-high 15 home runs for the Camden Riversharks. He stole 26 bases in 31 attempts. He led the Atlantic League in average and was named an All-Star outfielder alongside Ryan Radmanovich, Mel Stocker and Reggie Taylor. In a return engagement with the 2007 Riversharks, the Venezuelan hit .303/.338/.467.

In 2008, Abreu played for the Nashua Pride (.335/.379/.548 in 50 G) and Brockton Rox (.315/.360/.494 in 43 G). He stole 24 bases in 32 tries for the season. He was 6th in the Canadian-American Association in average (.326 between the two stops). His whereabouts for 2009 are unknown. In 2010, he hit .300/.378/.413 for the Mexican League's Potros de Minatitlan.

From 1996-2010, Dennys had batted .293/.340/.401 with 268 steals in 388 tries in the minor leagues. He had also hit .273 in 14 Venezuelan Winter League campaigns.

Sources

• Venezuelan League stats
• Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database
• 1996-2011 Baseball Almanacs