The Nationals may not be ready to close the door on CJ Abrams at shortstop after all.
That was the real takeaway from Blake Butera’s comments, because Washington had spent much of the back half of the 2026 season lining up a move away from Abrams at the position he’d held down as the starter. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni and Butera wanted to see him work at second base after another season in which he was among the sport’s worst defenders, even after Abrams had started for the National League in the All-Star Game. The move carried major financial implications, and Abrams and his camp pushed back.
Then an injury slowed everything down. Abrams didn’t get nearly as many chances at second as Washington had hoped, and the obvious transition never fully took shape.
Now, though, the Nationals are at least keeping the possibility alive that Abrams could still be their shortstop in 2027.
"We're going to see what [Abrams] looks like in Spring Training," Butera said, per MLB.com. "I think what he's shown us at second base, he's been unbelievable over there.
But he's also been unbelievable at shortstop since we had that conversation, right? So I think that he's absolutely earned an opportunity to continue to work at that this offseason.
And if he plays shortstop the way that he did these last, whatever it is, six weeks or so, that's a good shortstop."
That could be a genuine shift in how the club is thinking, or it could simply be Toboni and company leaving the door cracked. Either way, it matters.
If Washington doesn’t deal Abrams this winter for a king’s ransom - and that possibility is very much still in play given what this front office has already done in a short time - then the two-time All-Star will still loom large in 2027. And if he shows even modest progress at short before next season begins, the Nationals might decide the safest move is to keep him at the spot where he’s struggled the most.
There was at least some real defensive progress late in the year. From Aug. 17 through the end of September, the stretch Butera pointed to, Abrams posted a Fielding Run Value of zero over 105 innings at shortstop and 103 at second base. That was a major jump from the minus-12 FRV he carried across the full season.
Still, the cleaner fit feels obvious. Washington’s best path with Abrams on the roster is likely to have him at second base, which would let current No. 3 prospect Seaver King handle shortstop in 2027 before top prospect Eli Willits eventually takes over when he’s ready for The Show.
That’s the shape of it right now, even if the Nationals aren’t shutting any doors yet. And from the way Butera talked, Abrams’ next chapter may still include a lot of time at second base next season.
In Other News...
Nationals Park Hosted A Wild Baseball Show Washington Fans Felt Personally
Nationals Park turned into something closer to a summer carnival than a standard ballpark night as the inaugural Banana Bowl brought a different kind of baseball spectacle to Washington. The championship game mixed live baseball with theatrical flair, celebrity cameos and nonstop entertainment, giving fans the sort of offbeat show that can feel especially personal in a city still fond of its Nationals alumni and the ballpark they once called home.
The Texas Tailgaters and Savannah Bananas wound up giving the crowd a tense finish before the night settled into a winner, and the connections to Washington only made the atmosphere louder. Former Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann showed up with Texas, while Ryan Zimmerman was part of the Bananas side, turning a novelty event into something with a local edge that had Nationals fans leaning in all the way to the end. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Young Core Just Sent Fans A Clear Rebuild Message
The Nationals annual media awards offered another small but telling snapshot of where the franchise stands heading into 2026, and the names at the top were the kind that underscore the clubs reset. James Wood, who has quickly become one of the faces of the roster, took home Player of the Year for the second straight season, while Jacob Young and Nasim Nunez were recognized for their work off the field with the Good Guy Award, a reminder that the organization is trying to grow both its talent base and its clubhouse identity at the same time.
Cade Cavallis recognition as Pitcher of the Year added to that theme, because it reflected how much the Nationals are investing in their homegrown core after years of turnover. There is a reason these awards matter even in late September: they signal who the team believes will carry it forward, and Washingtons latest vote of confidence leaves little doubt that the next step in the rebuild will revolve around players who are already here, even as the full picture of that future is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Miguel Sime Jr. Is Giving The Nationals A Real Pitching Dilemma
Miguel Sime Jr. wasted little time making a case for himself in his first professional season, giving the Nationals a young arm worth tracking closely as he moved from Single-A to High-A. The right-hander, drafted by Washington in 2025, piled up strikeouts and logged a 2.99 ERA in 23 starts, showing the kind of bat-missing stuff that tends to force a club to think bigger about a pitchers long-term role.
Simes performance has already created a familiar development question in D.C.: keep him in the rotation or eventually push him toward the bullpen. The Nationals have plenty of time before they have to answer it, but his early success means the conversation is only going to get louder if he keeps missing bats at this pace and keeps proving he can handle starting work. [Read more 🡒]