WASHINGTON -- Following a late scratch Monday due to back tightness, CJ Abrams returned to the Nationals’ starting lineup on Tuesday -- at shortstop.
Expect Abrams to play both middle infield positions the remainder 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 Nationals announced last month that Abrams would be switching from shortstop to second base. Following prep work at the position (which he played 66 innings in 2022 as a rookie in San Diego) and then a brief delay because of a left ankle sprain, Abrams debuted at second on Sunday. He made two nice defensive plays and did not see any ground balls hit to him. The next day, Abrams was penciled in at shortstop before he was scratched from the lineup.
“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 if there is a possibility Abrams, who is under contract through 2028, could return to shortstop full-time, Toboni said, “I wouldn’t take that off the table. But once again, it’s up to CJ.”
When Washington announced its defensive plans on Aug. 14, Abrams had a -13 fielding run value, a league-low -17 Outs Above Average and a league-high 19 errors in 113 starts at shortstop on the season. Since then, the Nationals have lauded the work he has put in there.
“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.”