Abrams, Soroka getting close; Cavalli begins rehab assignment; Lopez suspension reduced

DENVER – The Nationals arrived in Colorado a battered and bruised team. There are 11 players currently on the injured list, four of them having been sidelined since the season began.

The good news: They’re finally getting closer to bringing guys back to the active roster instead of losing them.

CJ Abrams and Michael Soroka, in particular, are making good progress in their respective recoveries.

Abrams, out since April 12 with a right hip flexor strain, has stayed with the team on this road trip and has been rehabbing with his teammates. The All-Star shortstop has begun hitting and continues to take grounders, though there are still a few steps remaining for him.

Abrams is eligible to come off the 10-day IL for Tuesday’s homestand opener against the Orioles. There appears to be a chance he’ll be ready for that series.

“He should be fairly close,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s swinging the bat, he’s hitting. There’s still a couple more checkpoints we’ve got to do, as far as his fielding stuff going laterally. But once we get him through that, we’ll see where we’re at when we get back home.”

The Nationals have lost five of six since Abrams went on the IL.

Soroka also has remained with the club while he recovers from a biceps strain suffered in his March 31 season debut. The right-hander threw 37 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday in Pittsburgh and emerged feeling well.

According to Martinez, Soroka was scheduled to throw off a bullpen mound here at Coors Field before today’s game. If that goes well, he should make a rehab start for one of the Nats’ minor league affiliates as early as Tuesday.

Reliever Orlando Ribalta, who also has a biceps strain, has not been cleared to throw yet. The right-hander is eligible to return from the 15-day IL on Friday, but it does not appear he’ll be ready by then.

Perhaps the most encouraging news of the day involves Cade Cavalli, who is finally beginning a minor league rehab assignment.

Cavalli is scheduled to start tonight for Single-A Fredericksburg in Fayetteville, N.C. It’s the right-hander’s first competitive game since June 21, 2024, after which his rehab from his March 2023 Tommy John surgery was halted.

Cavalli has reported no health issues since the start of spring training. The Nationals, though, wanted to delay the start of his season, recognizing he’ll have to be on a strict innings limit after missing two full years following his elbow surgery.

Cavalli remained in West Palm Beach after the team broke camp and then began building his arm up over the last four weeks. He faced live hitters there but now is ready to pitch competitively again.

The Nationals will continue to take things slowly with their 2020 first-round pick, building up his workload with each start. He’s restricted to 30 days on a rehab assignment, but there’s a good chance he’ll be optioned to Triple-A Rochester at the end of that period to give him more time to develop a routine and prove he can not only pitch every fifth day, but pitch effectively every fifth day.

* Jorge Lopez had his three-game suspension reduced to two games upon appeal with Major League Baseball, and the veteran reliever will begin serving it today.

Lopez had learned of his suspension Thursday morning, one day after he was ejected from the Nats' game in Pittsburgh after hitting Bryan Reynolds and then throwing a wayward fastball over Andrew McCutchen's head, prompting both benches and bullpens to empty. MLB announced the three-game suspension the following morning, saying Lopez was being punished for "intentionally throwing" at McCutchen, even though the right-hander insisted he had no reason to do so. The league also suspended Martinez for that game.

Lopez appealed the ruling and remained eligible to pitch but did not appear in Thursday's game. His sentencing now reduced to two games, he will be required to sit out today's game as well as the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, but he'll be eligible to return for the nightcap.