CHARLESTON, SC – After three dominant outings with the RiverDogs, including a spectacular 11 strikeout effort in his debut start at The Joe on April 12, right-hander Albert Abreu has been called up to High-A Tampa as announced by the New York Yankees on Sunday.
Abreu, the Yankees No. 9 prospect per Baseball America and No. 11 per MLB.com, had his most impressive performance against the GreenJackets last Wednesday at The Joe when the right-hander touched triple digits with his fastball on multiple occasions while spinning in a good curveball to rack up a career-high with 11 punch outs across just 5.2 innings.
The native of Guayubin, Dominican Republic made his first appearances as a Yankees farmhand with Charleston on April 6 when he appeared out of the bullpen after coming over in the Brian McCann trade from the Houston system this past offseason. Overall in three appearances (two starts) with the RiverDogs in 2017, the 6’2” flamethrower was 1-0 with a 1.84 ERA (3 ER in 14.2 IP) with 22 strikeouts to just three walks.
In A ball in the Astros system in 2016, Abreu posted a 3-8 record with four saves and a 3.72 ERA with 115 K’s in 101.2 innings with Quad Cities and Lancaster. During his time with the River Bandits, he ranked first in the Midwest League in opposing batting average (.193) and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.40) among those with at least 75 innings pitched.
In a corresponding move, LHP Phillip Diehl was reinstated from the temporarily inactive list to fill the spot vacated by Abreu.
With their retooled roster, the RiverDogs will go for the series split with Asheville on Sunday evening at The Joe. Charleston will send RHP Nick Green (1-2, 5.56) to face Asheville RHP Antonio Santos (0-2, 2.50). The game will be broadcast on WTMA 1250 AM as well as online streaming on riverdogs.com and the TuneIn Radio app under the “Charleston RiverDogs” station. It’s an MUSC Health Family Sunday in the Holy City as the RiverDogs welcome Lowcountry kids who are members of the MUSC Health Kid’s club to gain free admission, eat free, play pregame catch on the field, and run the bases postgame.