Nelson Abreu

Nelson Enrique Abreu Vazquez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 185 lb.

• Born August 16, 1976 in Maracay, Aragua Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Nelson Abreu played professional baseball for nine years, peaking in A ball. His brother Bobby Abreu was a major league All-Star, another brother (Dennis Abreu) won two minor league batting titles and a third brother (Nielsen Abreu) had a brief career in the minors.

Nelson debuted in 1994, at age 17. He hit .200/.265/.289 in 44 games for the GCL Cubs (fielding .887 at short) and was 5 for 24 for the Huntington Cubs. In 1995, he improved to .214/.287/.289 for the GCL Cubs and fielded .916 at shortstop. The next year, brother Dennis joined him on the middle infield and Nelson put up a .221/.316/.301 line with 15 steals in 19 tries. Between them, the Abreus stole 50 bases. Nelson split 1997 between the Williamsport Cubs (15 for 49, 2B, 2 3B, 6 SB, 3 CS, 9 BB) and Rockford Cubbies (.240/.312/.352 in 63 G). Dennis was his teammate with Rockford.

While Dennis was promoted, Nelson was left behind with Rockford in 1998. As a utility man, he had his best year in Organized Baseball - .264/.341/.435. He played regularly at second, short, third and in the outfield. In 1999, he moved to the Elmira Pioneers and hit .277/.321/.380 while stealing 39 in 46 tries. He led the Northern League's East division in stolen bases.

In 2000, Abreu played for Elmira (.283/.381/.414 in 31 G) and the Catskill Cougars (.264/.360/.397). Overall, he stole 25 bases in 37 tries. He was third in the league in steals. In 2001, he fell to .235/.280/.290 for the Camden Riversharks with only 28 runs produced in 78 games. He moved to the Serie A1's Codogno club in 2002 and went 14 for 56 with a double, two homers, six walks, six steals in eight tries and a .927 fielding percentage at short to end his career. He became the second player alphabetically in the history of Italian baseball, after a Domenico Abate.