Armed with a sweet left-handed swing and a smooth glove in the outfield, Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu has thrust himself into the heat of the American League Rookie of the Year Award race. Though MLB.com experts predict that Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser or Yankees pitcher Luis Gil have the edge, Abreu entered Friday's action tied for second in the AL in home runs among rookies (15, with teammate Ceddanne Rafaela, behind Cowser) and ranked third in average and OPS, while leading all Major League right fielders in Fielding Run Value.

But Abreu has one other skill that won't show up in the box score and it has nothing to do with his skills on the field: Abreu is a barber who owns his own shop back in his hometown of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

"I started [cutting hair] around 2021 when I was playing in High-A," Abreu said through interpreter and MLB.com writer Marino Panchano during a recent stop at MLB's studios. "I bought a few clippers and all of that and started cutting some of my teammates’ hair. From then on, I kept on learning, I began to like it even more and then with time I had a few friends that came up with the idea to open a barber shop."

Back then, Abreu was in the Astros' Minor League system. Once the word of his extracurricular hobby got out, his teammates were quick to take him up on the free 'cuts.

“When I was doing it, everyone would ask me, ‘You’re also a barber? I need a haircut,’” Abreu remembered. "Everyone wanted me to give them a haircut, especially in the team since usually we didn’t have much time to go to a barber shop to get a haircut and all of that. So many of them took the opportunity and I used to cut their hair right there in the clubhouse.”

These days, Abreu has set his scissors down. Now that he's in the big leagues, barbers come straight into the clubhouse, letting Abreu take a break from using the clippers on his own head or anyone else's.

Not that his Red Sox teammates haven't asked, though.

“They know I give haircuts and sometimes they come up to me and say ‘Hey, you have to give me haircut!’ and all of that because they know I own a barber shop. But I don’t do it because there’s already a barber that comes to the ballpark to cut everyone’s hair," Abreu said.

Instead, Abreu has focused his attention to the field. Though the Red Sox playoff hopes are slim, Abreu's performance has kept the team in the Wild Card race all year long.

“Every time I see myself with dirt on my uniform, I feel happy, because I feel like I’m giving 100% and feel like I’m helping the team,” Abreu told MLB.com's Ian Browne earlier this summer. “For me to be able to help this team win is very important.”

“It’s definitely fun and exciting to be able to play these kinds of games in September, especially since we’re in the fight for a spot in the postseason," he added this week. "That makes it more exciting, everything is more meaningful. That gets you going even more to play and try to keep winning to make the postseason.

Once the offseason comes -- with Abreu and the team hoping that happens as late as possible -- he plans on returning home to Venezuela.

“Enjoying time with my family, clearing my mind … play some padel," Abreu said, referencing a racket sport similar to tennis. "A lot of padel. Just enjoy my family and get ready for the next year."

Of course, he'll be spending a fair amount of time at Activo, its black walls and colorful, electric green and blue highlights being a welcome space for Abreu to relax and look over his business.

"When I go back to Venezuela, it’ll be a place where I’ll be spending a lot of time, enjoying everything about it, looking around how everything’s running. Honestly, I like all of that a lot," Abreu said. "There’s a lot of action in there, a lot of people definitely go -- especially in the offseason around December -- that is the time of the year when everyone wants to get a haircut for the holidays. Definitely a lot of movement during the offseason.”

As for the chances that he and teammate Triston Casas, who is known for painting his nails bright colors, decide to go in on a barbershop/manicure shop, well, don't expect anything soon.

"No, we haven’t talked about that yet," Abreu said with a laugh. "But it’s a good idea.”

Special thanks to Marino Panchano for translation assistance.