Abrams lands on IL with right hip flexor strain; Lowe returns to lineup

MIAMI – The Nationals’ fears from last night were realized this morning following CJ Abrams’ MRI on his right hip. The examination revealed the young shortstop has a right hip flexor strain, forcing him to the 10-day injured list.

“After last night, he got an MRI today and it showed a slight strain,” manager Davey Martinez announced to start his pregame media session. “Like I said before, I talked to him today about just, hey, let's get this thing to calm down and give you some time and get it right, so this doesn't become a bigger issue. So in a week and a half, hopefully he'll be ready to go.”

Abrams sat out the first two games against the Dodgers this week with what was originally labeled as right thigh tightness from the final play of Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, in which he charged in to field a grounder and threw off-balance to first base. The shortstop clarified the injury was actually in his right hip later in the week.

The 24-year-old was then removed from last night’s win over the Marlins in the fourth inning. He struck out and walked in his only two plate appearances, and stole second base after his free pass in the third. He had to stretch out his arm to stay on the bag, initially re-aggravating his hip injury. Abrams tried to play through it, but in the bottom frame, he fielded a grounder moving to his left and made an off-line throw to first in a similar manner to what he did on Sunday.

In his place, Paul DeJong slid over to play shortstop and Amed Rosario came off the bench to play third base and hit in the leadoff spot.

Abrams and the team were not very concerned about the injury just a few days ago. And even with his placement on the IL, they are confident he will return to the field soon.

“It's still about the same,” Martinez said of his level of concern. “Like I said, I'm glad we were able to catch it early. The rest, I think, will definitely help him. He's going to get tons of treatment. And as soon as we can do some baseball activity with him, we'll get him going. It doesn't seem to bother him when he's hitting, which is great. But all the other stuff, when he's fielding and he goes to his left or right, it does seem to bother him a little bit. So we'll get some strength in there and get him back going.”

Abrams was hitting .244 (10-for-41) with two doubles, four home runs, seven RBIs, three walks, four stolen bases and six runs scored in 11 games to start the season.

“You know CJ, he wants to play every day,” the skipper said. “He wasn't happy about it, but this is the second stint with this bothering him. So we're going to try to get it all healed up. And like I said, something where he won't have to worry about it for the rest of the year.”

In a corresponding roster move, the Nats recalled Nasim Nuñez from Triple-A Rochester. In 10 games for the Red Wings, he hit .192 with three RBIs, five walks, five stolen bases and five runs scored.

“We know what he can do out at shortstop,” Martinez said. “Right now, I really like the way DeJong stepped up and he's played some short, so he'll play today. We'll get Nasim up there once he gets his feet grounded a little bit. He's been traveling all morning. But it's good to have him up here. As you know, he had a really good spring training. He didn't start off so good, but it's freezing cold in Rochester. So we'll get him back up here and get him going.”

With DeJong getting most of the reps at short moving forward, Martinez will utilize Rosario and José Tena at third base, with Nuñez spelling either position when necessary. But it will be hard to replace Abrams’ offensive potential leading off at the plate.

“We got some guys in the middle of our lineup that are doing well,” Martinez said. “We'll have to pick him up a little bit here right now while he's down. I think we have guys qualified to do that.”

* Speaking of the middle of the Nats lineup, Nathaniel Lowe is back in there today after being a late scratch from yesterday’s order while feeling under the weather. Josh Bell played first base for the first time this season (and had himself a night) while James Wood served as the designated hitter and Alex Call played left field.

Lowe did feel well enough to come off the bench and deliver a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth inning. But he still wasn’t well enough to stay in the game as Tena pinch-ran for him.

The left-handed bat is back in the starting lineup today against Sandy Alcantara, serving as the DH and batting cleanup while Bell starts again at first.

“He's feeling better,” Martinez said. “We're going to DH him today. Bell will play some first base. Like I said, he's still a little bit under the weather, but he said he feels good enough to go out there and DH.”