When the Astros put together a two-on-two basketball shooting tournament to break up the monotony of Spring Training in 2019, ace pitcher Justin
Verlander picked a rookie reliever that he didn’t know much about to be his teammate.
was 6-foot-1, but he had broad shoulders and appeared to know his way around the court. That was good enough for
Verlander, who, unbeknownst to him, had picked the best
basketball player on the roster. Abreu played competitive basketball growing up in the Dominican Republic. In fact, t
he Verlander/Abreu team was so dominant, the tournament was never completed.
“I was too good,” Abreu joked.
Abreu was eventually steered towards baseball and signed with the Astros as a
16-year-old in 2013. The decision to play baseball was a wise one, considering Abreu has over the past couple of years.
He posted a 1.94 ERA in 55 games in 2022 and a 1.75 ERA in 72 contests last year, striking out 100 batters in 72 innings.
credit to his work ethic and the family back home in the Dominican Republic
that made sure he stayed on the right track. Abreu grew up in the barrios of Simón Bolívar and Las Cañitas in the
nation’s capital of Santo Domingo, where he saw friends get involved in drugs and crime.
“I grew up in kind of like a dangerous neighborhood, but I just grew up in a
sport environment,” Abreu said. “I’ve been playing basketball my whole life, and then I just got into baseball because
of my friends. They just loved to play baseball. I didn’t know people get signed if you have talent.
“My mom asked me which sport I would love to play, and as a kid, I chose
basketball. I couldn’t go to the field with my friends, but if I chose baseball, I [could] sneak into the basketball court
and my mom [didn’t] even notice. I said, ‘OK, I decided to play baseball,’ and I started to do really good.”
