Red Sox Brass Believes Wilyer Abreu is Ready to Take the Next Step

[Alex Mayes]

During the Winter Meetings earlier this week, both Alex Cora and Craig Breslow offered a glimpse behind the curtain about outfield playing time for Wilyer Abreu in 2026. As MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported:

“With Willy and some of the lefties, we have to see if they can do it,” said Cora. “It’s about that time, especially with Abreu. If he can hit lefties and hit for power and play defense the way he’s done the last few years, he can be the guy.”

Breslow then offered this glowing remark: “Wilyer is a really good player. We’ve seen the way he’s able to impact both sides of the ball. He has earned the right to get some added runway against left-handed pitching. We feel like it’s an adjustment he’s capable of making. He’s got such a solid defensive floor that having him out there more often than not is going to help the overall team.”

That’s a great sign for Abreu moving forward, provided he remains with the club in 2026. As with other young, left-handed players like Jarren Duran and Triston Casas, Abreu was placed in a platoon role with Rob Refsnyder for the last two seasons. It’s worked well so far, but it hamstrings the team a bit in the long run. Abreu is a two-time Gold Glove winner while playing far less than he should be. With even more games in right field under his belt, the sky is the limit.

Additionally, Abreu was one of two primary sources of power on the team last season (Trevor Story being the other) after Rafael Devers was traded in June. Limiting his plate appearances keeps him from putting the bat to ball and improving against left-handed pitching.

Abreu has started against left-handed pitching just 15 times. He’s slashing .205/.271/.318 with two home runs and a 25.5% strikeout rate. That’s pretty bad. When we break his stats down by season though, we can already start to see an upward trend. Per Baseball Savant, Abreu started to come around against southpaws last season. The numbers still aren’t great, but they show that with consistent reps, Abreu should be able to make significant positive strides in 2026.

The one thing that could hold him up though, is that it appears Nate Eaton is in line to see more reps with Refsnyder possibly leaving the organization this offseason. The Red Sox don’t necessarily need both Eaton and Refsnyder in 2026, and will likely opt to go with the cheaper choice in Eaton. This shouldn’t prevent Abreu from seeing the majority of playing time in right field, but it will give him a chance to cycle through days off and possibly even the DH role if he proves capable of handling lefties with some amount of success early in the season.

Now that we’re three seasons into Abreu’s MLB career, it's time to see what he can do in a full-time role. He is young, cost-controlled, and seems primed to fully break out at the plate in 2026. If he can put all the pieces together, the Red Sox may have a 30-homer threat with Gold Glove credentials. As far as valuable players go, it's hard not to salivate at the prospect of Abreu turning into that.

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