🇻🇪 Wilyer Abreu got a 96.8 mph four-seam fastball from Jared Jones and sent it to right field at PNC Park — 110.8 mph off the bat, 420 feet of carry. It was the second inning of August 15, 2026, one out on the board, and home run No. 22 of the season put Boston on top 1-0 in what became a 4-0 Red Sox shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The pitch, the swing, the result
Jones threw a four-seamer with 18.4 inches of movement at 96.8 mph — not a pitch most hitters square up. Abreu squared it up anyway. Statcast logged an exit velocity of 110.8 mph, a launch angle of 24°, and 420 feet of distance before it landed in right. For context, the MLB average exit velocity on home runs sits around 103 mph. Abreu hit this one nearly eight miles per hour harder than that.
The official MLB description is plain and to the point: «Wilyer Abreu homers (22) on a fly ball to right field.» What the box score doesn’t capture is the cleanness of the swing — Abreu didn’t give an inch against that fastball.
A spark at exactly the right moment
The solo shot opened the scoring and gave a jolt to a Boston club that had won just one of its previous seven games. Sonny Gray did the rest: seven shutout innings to pick up his 15th win of the season — a personal best and the first AL pitcher to reach that mark in 2026. The final score, 4-0, was Boston’s 13th shutout of the year and their second in just three games.
Interim manager Chad Tracy hasn’t had many reasons to smile in August, but Friday night in Pittsburgh was one of them. For Jones, the loss drops him to 2-5 with a 5.03 ERA in 13 starts (59.2 innings) — a rough stretch that mirrors the 25-year-old righty’s inconsistent 2026 overall.
Abreu since the All-Star break: another gear
This didn’t come out of nowhere. Since the 2026 All-Star break, Abreu has hit 9 home runs in just 19 games, putting him firmly in the conversation for the hottest hitter in the second half of the season.
One number tells the story better than any other: in 2026, Abreu is hitting .357 with a 1.023 OPS against left-handed pitchers. That same split was .230 in 2025 and .180 in 2024. That’s the most dramatic improvement in his offensive profile and proof that opposing managers can no longer look for an easy platoon advantage against him.
Statcast backs it up across the board. Abreu is averaging 90.1 mph exit velocity on the season (65th percentile) and posting a 13.4% barrel rate (87th percentile). When he makes contact, he makes real contact. Friday’s 110.8 mph blast was the latest example — and almost certainly not the last.
The numbers behind the power
Here’s the full Statcast picture for Wilyer Abreu in 2026:
- 521 plate appearances
- 22 home runs, 65 RBI
- AVG: .259 | OPS: .811
- xwOBA: .358 (86th percentile) — what his contact quality says he should be producing
- Exit velocity: 90.1 mph avg
- Barrel rate: 13.4% (87th percentile)
- Hard-hit rate: 44.4% (balls at 95+ mph)
- Bat speed: 73.8 mph avg
Abreu is showing up on every Statcast leaderboard that matters. And in baseball, it’s the numbers — not the opinions — that make the case for a player’s legitimacy. He’s making his.
