Why Bryan Abreu’s Astros Teammates Have No Doubts — Houston’s New Closer Makes Everyone But the Fans Believe

Larry Dierker managed the Houston Astros’ greatest closer ever and he sees some of Billy Wagner’s attitude in this current team’s new ninth inning man by necessity. Is Bryan Abreu built for the baseball’s highest pressure role? To Dierker, there is little doubt.

“In my mind it takes a special person to pitch the ninth inning,” Dierker tells PaperCity. “. . . But a lot of times the setup guy can close. And he’s being groomed to be a closer. Like we have in Houston right now. Bryan Abreu isn’t afraid of the ninth inning.

“Just like Billy was never scared.”

Astros Twitter may love to post about how nervous Bryan Abreu makes them, how shaky he’s supposed to be, but those who play the game with him see something different.

“Bryan Abreu is elite,” Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña says when I ask him about Abreu’s adjustment to the closer role. “He’s elite. He deserves a lot of credit. . . He’s very reliable. Every time he steps out there, I think the game’s over.”

Peña speaks those words with a little fire too. This is much more than some rote defense of a teammate.

The Astros just swept the Texas Rangers right out of the playoffs, winning the Silver Boot (again) that denotes the best team in Texas and having gone 7-1 in their last eight games heading into this weekend’s series with the Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park. Abreu’s picked up three saves during this run and figures to be a huge factor in the showdown series that will go a long ways towards deciding if the Astros can win the American League West yet again.

“In my mind it takes a special person to pitch the ninth inning. . . But a lot of times the setup guy can close. And he’s being groomed to be a closer. Like we have in Houston right now. Bryan Abreu isn’t afraid of the ninth inning.” — former Astros manager Larry Dierker

Bryan Abreu, Fire Man

Some like closers to be near robots, as automated as AI search results. Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever, never let anyone see him sweat, never wavered, this thinking goes. Bryan Abreu is not that type of closer. The Houston Astros’ new ninth inning man wears his feelings on his sleeves. On the chest he’s pounding after a big strikeout. In every fiber of his being.

This 28-year-old reliever will try and use the super charged drama of baseball’s ninth inning to fuel him. He’ll never pretend it’s just another inning because he doesn’t buy into the lie some closers tell themselves.

“It’s kind of like different,” Abreu says when asked about pitching in the ninth. “That’s the last chance of every single team so they’re trying to leave everything that they have. Trying to compete as hard as they can at the end of the day, at the end of the game.

“I think it’s a lot more adrenalin out there. It’s just really high.”

Byran Abreu is refreshingly honest. Having grown up in the barrios of Simón Bolívar and Las Cañitas, just outside of the Dominican Republic’s capital of Santo Domingo, he learned early that the real danger isn’t found on athletic fields. The drama of the ninth inning and being a closer isn’t something that’s going to scare him. This isn’t the movie Weapons. Why not embrace the sports pressure?

The Astros’ high-priced regular All-Star closer Josh Hader hopes to be able to come back if Houston can advance far enough in the playoffs. Bryan Abreu is giving Jose Espada’s team the chance to get there. Abreu walks right up to the pressure, feels its hot breath and turns it right back. He comes in with two men on and Houston’s lead down to two runs in the second game of this telling Rangers series and gets the last four outs when the Astros appear to be teetering.

It’s not perfect. Abreu allows an inherited runner on third base to score and gives up two more singles in the ninth inning. But he gets the job done. He closes the door and secures the win. He puts the win to bed for his team and largely has with the exception of that blown save in Toronto and hiccup in Anaheim in a non-save situation.

“Bryan Abreu is elite. He’s elite. He deserves a lot of credit. . . He’s very reliable. Every time he steps out there, I think the game’s over.” — Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña

No Robo Closer

This is no robot closer. But Bryan Abreu does not shrink from the pressure either. Remember this is Abreu’s first real run as a closer. As many dominant eighth inning and occasional fill-in closing appearances you make, being the regular ninth inning guy is a whole different animal. Like going from swimming with goldfish to swimming with sharks.

“The pressure of having those three outs makes that inning more difficult than the rest,” Dierker tells PaperCity. ” . . . I’ve know a number of guys who didn’t really want to pitch the ninth inning. I’ve also seen, from the broadcast booth, that it looked to me like there were guys who preferred not to pitch the ninth inning.

“And you can understand that. If you’re making good money and you feel like you have a role, and you like your role, and you don’t want that added pressure, I could understand that. But Billy Wagner. That’s all he ever wanted. That’s all he wanted.”

Bryan Abreu wants the pressure too. No one thinks he’s Billy Wagner, one of the best closers in baseball history, one of the few in the Hall of Fame enjoying his Cooperstown summer. But that does not mean he cannot be everything this flawed, beaten up Astros team with endless fight needs in this moment.

Abreu’s stuff is still often electric. In his first save in the full-time role, his fastball velocity jumped after he let a few runners on. That pattern’s continue too. The ninth inning often makes Bryan Abreu throw faster. Ain’t that a gas?

He throws 32 pitches in that four-out save against the Rangers and is ready to throw as many as the Astros need. “I was pretty hot,” he says. “I’m competing and I had that adrenalin high. I wasn’t feeling tired at all.”

No rest till October’s done. Bryan Abreu wants the moment, whether you think he’s ready for it or not.