Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu Offers Up New Theory On Phantom Broken Bat Situation

Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu Offers Up New Theory On Phantom Broken Bat Situation originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu shed more light Wednesday on the head-scratching moment from the previous day’s spring training contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates, where his bat shattered on a checked swing with zero contact.

The play unfolded in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s Grapefruit League matchup. Abreu held up on a low-and-inside pitch from right-hander Thomas Harrington.

When Abreu glanced down, he clutched only the handle. The barrel had flown toward the mound. No foul tip. No jam shot. Just a checked swing that somehow splintered the lumber.

You don't see that every day 😆

(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/0KGjHnH81m

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) February 24, 2026

“In that at-bat before, when I hit the ground ball to shortstop, I felt something weird with the bat," Abreu said, per MLB.com's Scott Chiusano. "I feel with the contact, it doesn’t feel the right way or it doesn’t feel good. And the second at-bat, it just broke.”

Abreu said he inspected the bat after the grounder and detected nothing wrong, so he carried the same piece to the plate. “I didn’t feel like anything was wrong with the bat," Abreu continued, per Chiusano. "But just in my mind, it felt like the sound was weird the at-bat before. But I didn’t expect that the bat was going to break like that.”

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