One of the key revelations for the Astros en route to their second World Series championship was the emergence of Bryan Abreu. Once upon a time, Brent Strom, the beloved former pitching coach, viewed Abreu as a future starter. The allure was easy to understand as the right-hander possesses a pair of devastating breaking pitches — a slider and curveball — with a fastball that could reach the upper nineties or even flirt with triple digits. But maddening command issues with his fastball prevented Abreu from fulfilling Strom’s initial vision for him as a starter. Thankfully for Abreu, it all clicked last season when allowed only 13 earned runs in 60 1⁄3 innings (1.
Let’s Discuss Bryan Abreu’s Slider
