CJ Abrams was back where the Nationals wanted him on Tuesday, and back where they’ve spent the last month reworking things around him.
After a late scratch Monday because of back tightness, Abrams rejoined Washington’s starting lineup against the Nationals at shortstop. The plan from here is for him to bounce between the two middle-infield spots for the rest of the season.
“At the end of the day, it's going to be up to CJ, how he goes about his work and how he plays out there defensively,” president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said on Tuesday. “He's got a chance to really help the team out potentially at a few different positions, and that's obviously a great thing.”
The move comes after the Nationals announced last month that Abrams would shift from shortstop to second base. He had already done some prep work there, including 66 innings at the position in 2022 as a rookie with San Diego, before a left ankle sprain briefly slowed the transition. Abrams finally debuted at second base on Sunday, handled the job cleanly with two strong defensive plays, and didn’t have a ground ball hit his way.
Then came Monday’s scratch, and Tuesday’s return - this time at short.
Toboni said Abrams has handled the change with professionalism.
“He's handled it about as professionally as you could ask,” Toboni said. “Honestly, my opinion on it hasn't really changed at all.
… I think most players are going to be pretty disappointed in the moment, but then take a step back and get working -- and that's what CJ's done. So he's been great, and I think he's really going to be good over there.”
Asked whether Abrams, who is under contract through 2028, could eventually go back to shortstop full-time, Toboni didn’t shut the door.
“I wouldn’t take that off the table. But once again, it’s up to CJ.”
The Nationals’ defensive rethink came with Abrams carrying rough numbers at shortstop: a -13 fielding run value, a league-low -17 Outs Above Average and a league-high 19 errors in 113 starts when they made the announcement on Aug. 14. Since then, the organization has praised the work he’s put in.
“What we’ve talked about a lot is, we don’t want to be overly rigid in our thoughts on where he’s got to play in the future,” Toboni said. “What we want out of CJ, I think is -- as it relates to his defense -- let's get really comfortable at second base so you have the potential to play there, the versatility to play there.
“If you show that you're a stud at shortstop going forward, the more games that you stack being a stud at shortstop, the higher the likelihood is that you're going to get more run there. So [we] try to view it pretty reasonably, and I think he appreciates it, and we try to communicate the best we can and go from there.”
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